Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1870-02-11
Changing the County Government.

changing Inc NouaCy sS1AAn0n''
We take the present opportunity, and
perhaps the last one, of entering our pro-
test against any radical change in our pres
ent system of county government. 1t is
very probable that before this article is re-
ceived by our readers, the present system
of county government will be annulled BY
one swoop of the legislative wand, and that
old, intricate, expensive, and bungling sys-
tenn of Town representation be thrust up
on US against the will of nine-tenths of the
people of Iowa county.
We notice that few of our Republican
members, of whom we had hoped better
things, have become enamored by the sub
terfuges and abstract reasoning of Maxon,
the hero of this revolution in county gov
eminent, and without hesitating to ascer-
tain the wishes of their constituents, have
rushed headlong into the vortex. And
among such. we are sorry, extremely so,
that current opinion has placed Mr.. Joiner,
the Senator from this county, among those
who are unable to give reason for favor
ing this change.
If the foundation for a move in this d.
rection rested on any considerable number
of petitioners, we would have been ready
to seek for an excuse; but we are IN close
communication with every important point
in the State, and nowhere, to any extent,
can we find that the people favor change.
Maxon's subterfuge that there is more
safety and economy in one representative
from each town than in three from the en-
tire county, is exploded by the next
thought; and that is, if numbers of repre-
sentatiyes insure safety and economy, we
would respectfully ask Mr.. Maxon to in
clude all three of the town supervisors in
his bill-a representative from each school
district if you please; and further, if in
numbers there is safety, adopt at once the
rench-democratic system and all the peo-
pie legisiate, at an economical stipend of
two dollars day-to save expenses
We ought not to think, but cannot avoid
it, that zeal for economy is not the mo-
tive that inspires action on this measure.
We are slow to inpute. motives In legisla-
tive action; but when law of this kind is
being pressed with unabating vigor and
headlong precipitancy, without being asked
for by the people, and against an almost
unanimous voice, of the press of the State,
it unavodably must create suspicion
How can much representation be safe, if
Maxon, himself, will not listen to the voice
of the people c
How can he found an argument for full
Ter representation, and disregard at the
same time, the voice Of the people? If tie
town representatives, paid no more atten-
ton to the voice Of the people than Maxon
ioes, the more representatives we had the
more injury we should receive.
By comparison of the records of any
county in the State, they will show that
under the present system the, county ex-
penses are not to exceed one fourth as
great as under the old system. We have
an illustricus example in our own county,
of town representation Witness three
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in
county bonds, but for the economical man
agement by the old system we would not
have had 1'L
To close this article, we state in brief
the order Of business pursued by county
board, composed of member from each
town. Each member considers it virtue
20 get as much money out of the county
as possible to be expended in his own
town, on roads, bridges, drains, or some
other Improvement. The other members
think it not wise to make special grants to
one town, but are willing to make the ap-
preparation. if it can be made general and
applied to all the towns, which Of course
passes unanimously! SO if one town
l
needs a dollar and gets it, each town in the
county gets dollar whether they need it
or not. .yshts
Under the present system the commits
sioners are free from selfish motives, and
will apply the expenses where: they are
most needed, and have no one to cucumber
their meditatons. If you put hundred
men on the county board, three or four of
the active, sagacious ones will transact all
the business, and the balance will draw
two dollars day to eXemplify economy
Maxon knows well enough that few men
in the legislature attend to all the business,
and very few, like himself, attend to
more than their business -
After Rats.
The following advertisement appeared in
u n i n II