local interests have multiplied, the crude system, as originally commenced, has ripened into one in imitation of that in New England, but with more limited powers. Larger powers are reserved to the legislature than in the New England states, the management of local affairs, as before remarked, being divided between the counties and townships therein.

By the laws of Ohio, the general powers of a county, as a species of corporation, are exercised by a board of county commissioners consisting of three persons, elected by the qualified electors thereof. These commissioners may sue and be sued upon matters in controversy where the county is concerned. They have charge of the public buildings, poor houses, bridges and public grounds of the county, and the maintenance and support of idiots and lunatics. They have authority to establish and vacate public roads, and to appropriate funds for their improvement, and they have a general supervision over the fiscal affairs of the county. The assessment and collection of taxes is in like mannef entrusted to the county authorities. A marked feature in the general authority of the county commissioners under the present statute, is that of being required to subscribe for one copy of the leading newspaper of each political party, printed and published in the county, and to cause the same to be bound and filed in the county auditor's office, as public archives for the gratuitous inspection of the citizens of the county.

The township organization system of Ohio, which has been imitated by several of the newer States, is the most simple form of the system which exists, that can be called township organization. Indeed, among those best understanding what the term township organization imports, it is a misnomer as applied to the Ohio system.

In borrowing from New England, Ohio has substituted, instead of the select men of the town, three officers, styled trustees. These, with the township treasurer and township clerk, constitute the whole force of township officers for the management of local affairs, except overseers of highways for the various road districts. Each township is made a body politic and corporate in express terms. The subjects of which the town has control are the repair and superintendence of public roads, and the establishment of roads of minor or local importance, estrays, health, fences and inclosures, and the support of the poor. The supervision of these various affairs, and the execution and enforcement of the laws relating thereto, is in general committed to the township trustees.

A noticeable feature, however, in the Ohio township system, is the absence of that institution which De Tocqueville so much admired in the political system of the New England States-the town meeting; he adds that local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations.

An eminent citizen of Marlborough, Mass., in writing up the history of that town, speaking of the New England political system, takes occasion to remark that "a town meeting is a surer exponent of the will of the people than a legislative assembly, whether State or National. The nearer you come to the fountain of power, the people, the more clearly you perceive public sentiment and learn the popular will. The American revolution

was inaugurated in town meeting, and the history of that great political movement may be seen in the Resolutions passed and Acts done in those little assemblies. It was there that the great question was debated, the first step taken, the solemn pledge given. Next to the family, the primary gatherings of the people exhibit the purest fire of patriotism to light up the hopes of the Nation."

A town meeting, according to the New England system, is an assembly of the electors of the town, organized as a deliberative body by the selection of one of their number to preside as chairman or moderator. It is a legislative body composed of the people themselves, and is purely a New England institution, growing out of the theory of the early colonists in church government,—that affairs of common interest should be subject to the direction and control of the congregation in their meetings duly convened. When it was found necessary to form a body politic, the subject of deliberation became extended beyond the affairs of the church, to such as concerned the State. Assemblies for religious worship were called simply meetings. The place of assembly was called the meeting house. Meetings for regulation of public affairs were called town meetings, as distinguished from religious meetings. The congregation, or electors, would be the same in either instance; none were freemen unless admitted to the congregation.

The first town meeting in New England, or meeting of the congregation of Plymouth colony, to consider affairs of common interest, it is stated, occurred on the 23d of March, 1621, for the purpose of perfecting military arrangements, at which a governor was elected for the ensuing year, and it is noticed as a coincidence, whether from that source or otherwise, that the annual town meetings in the New England States have ever since been held in the Spring of the year. New York imitated this example, and in every northwestern State where the township system exists, the annual town meeting or election of town officers occurs likewise in the Spring of the year, either in March or April.

The electors under the New England system are not only empowered to elect all town officers at their stated annual town meetings, but they have power to enact by-laws and ordinances for the regulation of town affairs, and to give direction in numerous instances to town officers concerning the discharge of their duties. But under the Ohio system, the electors have no such power. They are empowered to meet annually and elect township officers, but have no power to make by-laws or to give directions to the officers whom they elect, for any purpose whatever. Their authority ends with the election of township officers.

The State of Indiana has been more stubborn in its resistance to township organization than the neighboring State of Ohio. The early inhabitants of Indiana were largely from Kentucky, or those States that adhered to the county system. The people were called "Hoosiers," and were marked as well for their frontier simplicity of life and manners, as for their prejudices against the institutions of the Eastern States. To ther

the term "Yankee" was synonymous with an outlaw, and anything called a "Yankee invention was to be abhorred.

The county system was here adopted at the beginning of the government without modification. But as the influences of eastern immigration increased, these early prejudices became relaxed, and a species of the township system has been adopted of the nature of that existing in Ohio, but more limited in its importance. The counties, as in Ohio, are a species of corporation, whose affairs are in like manner committed to the management of three commissioners. The commissioners have authority to divide the county into such number of townships as the convenience of the citizens may require. Each township being a body politic and corporate, the affairs of the township are entrusted to one trustee, elected by the voters of the township on the first Monday in April, annually, who is the sole township officer. His duties are to receive and disburse the funds of the township; to take charge of its educational affairs, and to superintend the repairing of public roads. He is one of the inspectors of elections, is overseer of the poor and fence-viewer of the township. His most important duties, such as the levy of taxes on the property of the township, are performed with the advice and concurrence of the board of county commissioners. Indiana like Ohio, has no such institution as town meeting.

The State of Michigan was the first of the northwestern States to adopt a regular and unqualified system of township organization, being the same in its general features as that existing in New York, and known as the New York system. In this State a large proportion of the population at the time of the formation of the government, were emigrants from the State of New York. Township organization was adopted without a contest, and as a natural consequence the New York system was preferred. Each county is created a body politic and corporate in express terms, with more extensive powers than counties have in Ohio or Indiana. The affairs of the county are managed by a county board, whose powers and duties are defined, and extended to many objects which in Ohio and Indiana are exercised by the State legislatures. This board is styled the board of supervisors, and is composed of one delegate from each organized township, called supervisor of the town, with additional representation in case of populous cities. This board forms a deliberative body, conducting its proceedings according to parliamentary rules and usages, and is sometimes styled the county legislature. Its duties, in their nature, are both legislative and executive, or ministerial.

The township is sovereign and supreme within the scope of the powers granted, but the powers are not as extensive as those reserved to towns in New England, and, unlike the New England system, there is no executive head for general purposes in administering public affairs, as the board of select-men. The officers of the township are one supervisor, who is ex officio a member of the county board, a township clerk, a treasurer, a board of school inspectors, directors of the poor, assessors, board of commissioners of highways, justices of the peace and constables, all of whom, except constables, have various duties assigned them in the management

of township affairs. The officers of the township are elected annually, by the electors thereof, except justices of the peace, whose term of office is four years, commissioners of highways three years, and school inspectors two years, being so arranged or classified that the the term of the incumbent of one of these several officers expires annually. The town meeting exists in Michigan, and is conducted in the manner of the New England system, the supervisor of the town acting as moderator. The annual meeting is on the first Monday in April. Each township is made a body corporate, with the usual powers granted to such corporations. The grant of power to the inhabitants at town meeting is given in general terms, and in the exercise thereof is left largely to their discretion. The electors have authority to vote sums of money, not exceeding such amounts as are limited by law, as they may deem necessary for defraying proper charges and expenses arising in the township. They have authority also to make all such orders and by-laws for restraining cattle and other animals from going at large in the highways, and for directing and managing the prudential affairs of the township, as they shall judge most conclusive to the peace, welfare, and good order thereof.

The supervisor is the chief officer and representative of the township, and it is his duty to prosecute and defend all suits in which the township is interested. The township clerk keeps the records of the township, and the treasurer takes charge of its funds. The establishment, vacation and repair of public roads is committed to the three commissioners of highways. The supervisor, the two justices of the peace whose terms of office soonest expire, and the township clerk, constitute a township board for examining and auditing the accounts of the town. Their action in this regard is required to be reported to the next annual town meeting.

The State of Wisconsin was next in order in adopting township organization. It commenced while in its territorial condition with the county system. But like the State of Michigan, the inhabitants becoming mostly of New York emigration, the township system of that State, with some modifications, became adopted. Counties are created bodies politic and corporate with much the same powers as counties in the State of Michigan; the county board was originally formed in like manner, but became changed a few years since to representation by districts; each district being comprised of two or more towns, thereby greatly reducing the number composing the board. The plea for this change was the reduction of expenses in the per diem of members.

Each town is made a body corporate, with similar powers of townships in the State of Michigan. The town officers are three supervisors, one of whom is designated as chairman, a town clerk, a treasurer, four justices of the peace, as many constables as the electors may determine at town meeting, not exceeding three, one assessor, a sealer of weights and measures, and one overseer of highways for each road district in the town. The electors are empowered to vote money for the support of common schools, for the repair and building of roads and bridges, for the support of the poor, and for defraying proper town charges and expenses. They

have the same power to make orders and by-laws, and for the like purposes, as the electors of townships in the State of Michigan. Town officers are elected annually by the electors of the town, except justices of the peace, whose term is four years, classified so that the term of two of them shall expire every two years. The three supervisors are the executive head of the town and correspond to the selectmen of towns in New England. They are the commissioners of highways, and overseers of the poor of the town, and have the general charge of its fiscal affairs. The town meeting exists in Wisconsin the same as in Michigan. The chairman of the town board of supervisors is the moderator. The annual town meeting is held on the first Tuesday in April.

Illinois was the next State in the order of time to adopt township organization. The history of the introduction and perfection of the system in its present form, shows a contest amounting to bitterness. Illinois was once a county of Virginia, and when it passed into a territorial organization, it retained the Virginia notions of government. The introduction of township organization was a compromise in the constitution, as revised in 1848, wherein it was directed that the General Assembly should provide by general law for a township organization, under which any county might organize whenever a majority of the voters of such county at any general election should so determine. The General Assembly at its first session thereafter made provision as directed, and in doing so adopted the New York system, modified, however, to a certain extent, from being necessarily engrafted upon the existing county system. Most of the counties north of the Illinois river promptly availed themselves of this provision, and adopted the township system. As a coincidence, it is noticed, however, that the inhabitants of those counties were mostly from New York and the New England States. Other counties have followed their example from time to time, until of the one hundred and two counties of the State, seventy-eight of the number have accepted township organization. The system adopted in Illinois, as perfected at the present time, is essentially the same as in Michigan. Counties and towns are bodies corporate and politic, with like powers; the county board is formed in the same manner; the town officers are the same with the exception of town treasurer, and who have the same authority and duties as provided by the laws of Michigan. The town meeting exists in Illinois in the form established in Michigan and Wisconsin, except that the moderator is chosen by the electors assembled. The annual town meeting is held on the first Tuesday in April. The electors have the like powers at their town meetings to make orders and by-laws as provided by the statutes of Michigan and Wisconsin. The Supreme Court of Illinois have construed the statute of that State liberally in this regard for the purposes intended.

It is to be observed that in none of the newer States has township organization been adopted without a contest. In this regard Minnesota affords a peculiar example of vacillation. While in its territorial condition, the county system existed; on becoming a State the township organization was adopted by copying the statutes of Illinois on the subject