UNIVERSITY PART I. OUR GOVERNMENT: TOWN, CITY, AND STATE. CHAPTER I. TOWN AND CITY GOVERNMENT. MAN A SOCial Being. - A life of solitude is unnatural. Man everywhere enjoys society. In all parts of the world and in all time people have lived in communities. NEED OF GOVERNMENT. Whenever men live in a community, they are placed under certain mutual obligations. Unless these obligations were regarded, society would prove a failure. Man is selfish as well as social. The weak must, therefore, be protected from the strong. Moreover, there are common interests which require united action. This united action may be for the common defence of the community or for the general welfare of all. THE TOWNSHIP. The unit of government is generally the town. In many parts of our country this is called a township. Where the population is dense and houses are close together, side by side, so that within a small area there is a large population, the government is generally under the form of a city. A town includes the people who are permanent residents within a certain limited and prescribed territory, usually occupying but a few square miles. In the western part of our country, where the national government has plotted the land, a township is six miles square. A TOWN GOVERNMENT. - The government of a town, or township, is in the hands of the people permanently residing within the limits of that township. These people combine together for the protection and mutual good of all. This is the fundamental principle of government. To carry on this government and make the necessary provisions for the mutual good of the inhabitants of the town, taxation is resorted to. The people, therefore, come in contact with the government, first of all, in the way of taxation. Taxes are levied by a majority vote of the citizens assembled in town meeting. TOWN MEETING. The people of the town meet together annually upon a day appointed by law, and elect the town officers, vote a tax such as they deem necessary to carry on the affairs of the town, receive reports of the town officers for the past year, and decide what shall be done during the year to come. TAXES. Money is ordinarily raised by taxation for the following purposes, namely: the support of the public schools, making and repairing highways, the care of the poor, maintaining the fire department, paying the salaries of the town officers, paying for the detection and punishment of offenders against the law, maintaining burial grounds, planting shade trees, providing for disabled soldiers and sailors and their families, and in general for all other necessary expenses. TOWN OFFICERS. (1) Moderator. The town meeting is presided over by an officer called the moderator, who is elected at each meeting for that purpose. (2) Town Clerk. — The town clerk is elected annually, and is required to keep a record of all votes passed at town meeting; to administer requisite oaths to officers; to record births, marriages, and deaths in the town, and the name of the town officers elected; to make necessary returns to county officers or to officers of the state, and to perform such other duties as are specified by law, differing somewhat in different sections of the country. The town clerk usually calls the town meeting to order, reads the warrant under which the meeting is held, and presides until a moderator is chosen. (3) Selectmen. - The town is a corporation, and must have some officer or officers to represent it, to act for it, and to attend to the general business of the town. In some states this officer is called a supervisor. In others, several persons are elected, called, in some states, trustees of townships; in other states, selectmen; and in others, the town council. In New England, the powers and duties of these officers are greater than in other sections of the country, because, from the time of the earliest settlements, the town has been a more important division of the state here than elsewhere. - (4) Town Treasurer. There is usually elected at the town meeting, a town treasurer, who receives all sums of money belonging to the town, and pays the same to the order of the proper officers. He must give bonds for a faithful performance of his duties. He is required to make an annual report to the town of his receipts and expenditures. (5) School Committee. - Generally throughout the country each town or county elects a board of school committee, or school directors. In some states the mem bers of the school committee are elected annually, and in other states they are elected for three years, one-third of the board being elected each year. This board has the general charge and superintendence of the public schools of the town or county. In most of the states the school committee elect the teachers of the public schools, make contracts with them, fix their salaries, etc. In some of the states they examine the teachers as to their qualifications to teach and to govern, visit the schools, arrange the courses of study for the different grades of school, see that the schools are properly managed, that the instruction is correctly given by the teachers, and have the power to dismiss teachers for cause at any time. In many of the Western states these duties fall largely upon the county superintendent of schools. The school committee are required to make an annual report to the town or county of the condition of the schools, with such suggestions for their improvement as they think proper. (6) Surveyors of Highways. - The town chooses one or more surveyors of highways. Frequently the township is divided into districts, and a surveyor appointed for each district. In some cases the town creates a board of road commissioners, who have the general charge of the roads and bridges of the town. In those states where the county is more prominent the roads are under county superintendence. (7) Assessors of Taxes.-These officers are elected by the town, and it is their duty to make annually a list of the names of all taxable inhabitants, to estimate the value of all property, real and personal, and to assess a tax upon the same. In addition to this property tax |