Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1855-03-09
The Size of Counties.

One of the arguments most perslstentiy
urged against Division in our county, is,
that it is ..too small to divide" Even tho
PLilad. Ledger comes "to the rescue" of
New Berlin, and grayely informs the d.
yisionists Of this county that they are very
unwisc The writer Of that article prob
ably knows no more about our county than
he does about the moon-he is informed
of the precise admeasurement of each, and
very sagely concludes that size is the only
point involved in the erection of counties.
How preposterous this position. Union
and Snyder county would EACH be more
than TWICE as large as his whole county
of Philadelphia! Hartley township itself
would nearly equal Philad. in territory !.
According to the Ledgcr's argument, Phi
lad. ought not to be u county" it's not
Ji;y enough h''-"only about as large as one
township" in Union county-it should be
joined to Elk or Pike, where they have
abundance of square miles to spare, and
then "little" Philadelphia might be "big
enough" for county by itself!
Or, lot US take Delaware, the county
adjoining Philadelphia, and which has no
city or large town within its borders. by
the Ledger's showing, that is a every i'm
proper little county-only $50 50. miles
in area, mot one-third that of Union)-
and ought to be attached to Montgomery,
(Which has 100 So. miles less than Union,
to make it large enough! If the people
were to be asked, however, they would tell
the Ledger that there is no happier or
bctter-appoin,ed ormorc prosperous county
in the State; that they have tried it many
years, and have no particular desire for
more bed-fellows.
Lebanon has 800 square miles-only
p more than Snyder and Union would
each have. Should Lebanon be Cream
nexcd'' to Dauphin or Lebanon, because
Of its diminutiyeness
Columbia had only % more square miles
prior to its Division than Union now has:
yet We doubt whether any would now say
the separation was not a wise AMI econo-
mical act
Wemight point to numerous other coun-
ties in our own and other States, smaller
even than Union, where the impertinent
i;i,se dici Of the Ledger, that they are
"too small" would not cause their annihi-
laton,
The Ledger's grasping for more con-
solida,ion," might easily be gratified with
out interfering with the purely domestic
concerns of this county. There is Tioga,
there is NJ Kean county, each containing
ll0O square miles, $50 say nothing Of the
bears and wildcats j there is Bradford
with It's ll70, and Luzernc with its 400,
(and woods and mountains gratis j any
one Of these have size enoug h to swal-
low up three or four little Philadelphias
with their l20 square miles, and still have
room for the wolves and panthers to pros
ecute their means of livelihood.
We doub. after all, whether the Led
ger man would, on reflection, blot out Phi
lalephia, and move to Clearfeld, simply
because Clearfcld is the largest county in
the State. He would probably come to
the conclusion that conveuierces of
travel, contiguity of location, community
Of interest, population and wealth were
of far more Importance
than the mere number of acres composing
a county. Ga this rational and conclusive
principle, he would vastly prefer Philad
or Chester to Potter or NJ kean-Union
or Snyder to Tioga or Jefferson with their
$50 to 100 square miles each.
Great Britain is small island-some of
her counties, very small yet We doubt
whether the Ledger would object to recog-
nizing it is "Power," simply because the
King of G uinea or the Khans Of Tartary
swayed extensive dominion over barren
wastes thrice the size of the "fast-ancho-ed
isle"
Were the Ledger scribbler to find time
to abstain from such protouad philosophiz-
ing upon public affairs long enough to
seek out bosom companion to share his
honors, he would hardly takes his scales
along to select the lady who should utvigh
the most Mere fat would hardly be his
criterion in selecting wife. Disposition,
appearance, education, character, and per-
haps pecuniary ability, would with him
have more ueight than bone and muscle.