The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1859-11-19
rowysHfr ORGANIZATION.

IL Is conceueu ny eVeFSpouy 'h"' W. "eN>
Legislature must abolish the present miser--
able system of county government by Coun-
ty Judges, and erect some other system 70
take its place. The question which Will hrss
arise in the mind Of every man, is-"A has
system shall we have?" There are two
other systems, one Of which will undoubtly
take the place of the present one, viz The
Commissioner System and the System OF
Township Organization.
We decidedly favor the latter. We have
seen it's Just and harmonious workings, and
we believe it is the nearest perfect OF any
system that has yet been devised. The
rsasons why we favor such system we will
briefly point out. The great objection to
the County Judge system-or, at least. one
Of the great oGiectlons-is, that from the
too great continuation of power in the
hands of one man, dishonest local cllques
are liable to be formed Tor the purpose OF
controlling the affairs of county for loca!
or personal advantage. That this is the
case, every man who has watched the pro-
gress of events in this State has at some
time or other been painfully aware. We
could name county after county which is
now hopelessly bankrupt, because its coun-
tv Judges have sought at some time to grind
the axes of a clique of spectators. The
County Judge system is generally system
Of temporal rewards and punishments. chat
official too often favors his friends and pun
ishes his enemies, by the use Of the extraor-
binary powers committed to his hands. Ii
election time is approaching he is gracious
to everybody who has a vote to sell, and he
graduates his bids according to the number
Of votes which are onvertibe. If strong
minded and self willed he often becomes
despot but if weak IN uded and plant, he
becomes the bel pless tool of the big man Of
the ccnnty seat, who is sharp enough to
make men and things bend to his will. All
power is concentrated in his hands, and be
does just what he p!eases. But in the town.
ship system there is IL just and equitable
distribution OF these powers, and system
Of checks and balances by which purity Is
preserved in the administration of AFFAIRS
No man has absolute power in any depart
ment of the local government. The duties
Of each are pointed out by the statute, and
the system works in each county as regular
" as Il clock. In old New York-and it has
a model system of county and township gov
erument-the county Judge is a Judge in
fac. He holds courts of Quarter Sessions,
having civil and criminal jurisdiction to a
certain extent, and until the counties have
att,ineI a stated amount of population he
discharges also the duties of Surrogate or
Probate Judge. The County Sup't of the
Poor to the burthens in that Department.
Commissioners Of highways attend to the
ROADS and bridges. The Board of Supervi-
sors audits all accounts against the county,
Icvies and cquaizes the taxes. eracts or d.
= 4 l.. ~. al al,
cy Of the county generally as our LeglsIa-
ture does that Of the State. If $4,000
Court House is to be built, the Supervisors
one representing each tornatip IN the
CoiudY-~has a finger in the PIE. and the IN
terests Of his constituents Will be properly
represented, or he Will find his official head
in the basket at the next election. How is
it in Iowa? Every body knows, and we
need not now get up Il squirmlng among the
advocates Of the present system by telling
how these things are done.
We cannot regard the Commissioner Sys-
tenn as anything else than slight erpdnSion
of the County Judge system. without any
Improvement whntcver. CNques Will con-
troll the Commissioners az easily as they
now do tn" county III ICES. The people
want some system as much as possible with
in their control. Let each township have n
supervisor who shall have a voice IN county
affairs. and if he conducts himself improp-
erly, or fails to attend to the interests Of
bis constituents. they may at the end of one
year provide themselves with a better SER
want.
The County Judge system is just like
lottery. Once in a while a county gets
capital prize in a good juige-bat the blanks
outnumber the prizes. and the investments
in the articles re on the whole proltlcss.-
Let Us have township system with just
distribution of the powers-and complete
doing away with the despotsm under which
our counties now Hamilton Free