by the County Court of Quarter Sessions; in New Jersey, by the Legislature. It has power to lay out and repair the highways, to estimate the amount of taxes to be raised for schools and other local purposes, which estimates it submits to the county authorities for approval, and, in general, to act upon local matters not delegated to the county. In New York the township-meeting passes directly upon certain local questions; but in Pennsylvania, where the administration is more centralized, these duties devolve upon a local board of supervisors. The township officers are one or more supervisors, a clerk, assessors, commissioners, constables, justices of the peace, and commissioners of the highways. In New York the poor support is furnished partly by the township and partly by the county; in Pennsylvania it is under the control of a county director. Schools are carried on by the township, but are subject to county supervision. It should be added, that the Legislatures subject both county and township expenses to strict regulation, to prevent abuse of powers. 727. Blending of Elements in the West.-The early movements of population in the United States were westward along parallels of latitude. Emigrants from the three divisions of the old States carried with them their political ideas, habits, and preferences; but the emigration from New England was so blended with that from the South, and particularly with that from the Middle States, that it was never able to establish the Town system pure and simple. Only the County system and the Mixed system are found west of the Atlantic States.stie, sub! 728. Pennsylvania Type in the West. The Governor and Judges of the Northwest Territory were authorized by the Ordinance of 1787 to adopt and publish such laws of the original States for said Territory as they deemed fit and necessary. The Ordinance also contemplated the creation of counties and towns. This first Legislature, like the population, was made up of men from all sections of the country: Governor St. Clair was from Pennsylvania, Judge Symmes from New Jersey, Judge Putnam from Massachusetts, Judge Turner from North Carolina. The result was the establishment of the Pennsylvania system, north of the Ohio, with some changes effected by New England influence. This early legislation, strengthened by the influences that produced it, permanently settled the status of Ohio and Indiana, and also exerted a considerable influence upon other Western States. 729. New York Type in the West.-This type, more or less modified sometimes by other ideas, has been widely adopted throughout the West and Northwest. In some States, even the township-meeting for purposes of legislation has been introduced. Michigan is a good example of the strength of this type; the Governor and Judges of the Northwest Territory set up the Pennsylvania type, but with an increased proportion of immigrants from New York and New England this was rejected and the New York type substituted in its room. 730. Changes of Type.-A closer study of the subject than the present one would bring into view many minor facts of much interest. One of these facts would be the influence of the different sections of the country, and the different systems, upon each other. In some States we sometimes find two systems existing side by side. The first constitution of Illinois, framed mainly by Southern men in 1818, established the County system; the constitution of 1848, there having been a large influx of Eastern population in the meantime, authorized a law that left the settlement of the question to the people of the counties; and under the law that the Legislature passed in pursuance of this authority, more than two-thirds of the counties now have the Mixed system. In other States, also, as in Missouri and Nebraska, this system is rapidly encroaching upon the County system, under a similar county-option law 731. Relative Merits of the Several Systems.-These cannot be discussed as an abstract question. Much depends upon natural and social factors. The highly specialized Town system was most consonant with New England civilization; the County system was best adapted to the South; while the Compromise system, under its two forms, has well met the needs of the West and Northwest. This system is now encroaching upon the County system, and it will not be surprising if in time it largely or wholly supplants it. Combining the stronger features of the two other systems, as the Union combines the stronger features of large and small states, it has shown singular vitality and power. Evidently, the supervisor type of the County system is more democratic than the commissioner type, but also more cumbersome. It may fairly be claimed for the board of commissioners, particularly in a county where there would be a large number of supervisors, that it is more effective, and gives less opportunity for log-rolling and pipe-laying. The two forms of the Mixed system are sometimes called the Township-county system and the County-precinct system. The political influence of New York and Pennsylvania upon the West has been far greater than that of any other States. IV. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 732. Need of such Government.-No one of the three systems of local government just described will answer the purposes of a city, or at least of a large city. Nor can the State govern it to advantage.1 It needs a government that is centralized and efficient. This demand is met by municipal government, a word that means pertaining to a municipium, or a self-governing Italian town in the Roman period. In 1789 there were but five or six cities in the United States, and but 3.85 per cent. of the total population lived in cities. In 1890 there were hundreds of cities, and 29.12 per cent. of the population lived in them. At present, therefore, municipal government takes high rank among the local institutions of the country. 733. City and State.-The government of a city is a reduced copy of the government of the State. It has its own constitution, its own laws, its own legislature, executive, and judiciary, its own treasury, and its own police 1 Mr. Fiske has shown not only that State Legislatures are incompetent to manage the local affairs of cities, but also that they have not the time to do so. "In 1870 the number of acts passed by the New York Legislature was 808. Of these 212, or more than one-fourth of the whole, related to cities and villages. The 808 acts, when printed, filled about 2,000 octavo pages; and of these 212 acts filled more than 1,800 pages." (p. 128.) And yet these acts dealt only with the general features of the cities and villages. When we add to this mass of laws, the far greater volume of city and village legislation, we can form some adequate notion of the relation that local government bears to government as a whole. force. Except that it is subject to the State, it occupies a position not unlike that of the free city of the Middle Ages; or, more correctly, it may be likened to the cities of Hamburg and Bremen in the German Empire to-day. 734. The City Constitution. This is its charter, which is conferred upon the city by the State Legislature. Most frequently, at least in the case of large cities, the charter is a special act or acts enacted in the usual manner; but sometimes, and particularly in small cities, it is simply some general provisions of the law or constitution that apply to all cases answering to a general description. In either case the Legislature establishes the principal features of a city government, and declares its duties and responsibilities. 735. The City Legislature. This is usually called the city council. More frequently it consists of two chambers, the board of aldermen and the common council; but in many small cities, as well as in New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, and San Francisco, it consists of the common council alone. The acts of this legislature are generally known as the city ordinances. The council levies the local taxes and makes the local appropriations, and ordinarily has more or less to do with the executive administration. 736. The City Executive.-The city executive is the mayor. His relations to the council and to the city are very like the relations of the Governor to the Legislature and the State. He communicates information relative to city affairs in messages, nominates officers, signs or vetoes ordinances, looks after the due execution of the city laws, and commonly has more or less control of the police. The mayor's powers and duties are far more numerous and important in some cities than in others. 737. City Departments.-A large amount of the administrative business is usually transacted through bureaus, executive departments, or boards. Mention may be made of the departments of finance, police, streets, public buildings, water-supply, improvements, education, and the infirmary. These departments are sometimes administered by salaried officers, sometimes by committees of the council, while sometimes such officers and council committees act together. 738. The City Judiciary.-The most characteristic feature of the city judicial system, as such, is the court having jurisdiction of minor criminal offenses. This is sometimes held by the mayor himself, but more frequently, at least where the mayor has large administrative duties to perform, there is a special judge called the city or police judge. The ordinary justices' courts may also be mentioned. Occasionally a city has a complete system of courts, lacking only a court of final resort, but as a rule cities have, with the exception of the police court, the same courts as the county in which they are situated. 739. Municipal Reform.-The great increase in the number of American cities, and the rapid growth of many of them, have been attended by much inefficiency and corruption in city government. Numerous, but as a rule not very successful, attempts have been made to reform these abuses. Perhaps the best known of these plans is that called the Federal Plan, which was put in operation in Philadelphia in 1887. This plan vests all legislative power in the council, and all executive power in the mayor and the heads of certain departments appointed by the mayor with the consent of the council. The mayor also has the veto power. The great argument urged in behalf of this system is that it centers power and responsibility in a few persons. 740. France and the United States.-Attention has often been drawn to the contrast in respect to local government presented by France, on the one hand, and the United States, on the other. France is divided into departments, arrondissements, cantons, and communes, all administrative divisions. The department and the commune are the most important. Each of these has its own council or legislature elected by universal suffrage; but these bodies have few powers to begin with, and they are limited, first by the local executives, and secondly by the national administration. The prefects and the mayors are dependent upon the central authority rather than upon the people. The result is that local self-government is unknown. While France is a republic, Mr. Fiske well remarks that, "" as contrasted with American methods and institu |