The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-02-10
New Counties.

To the Editor of the C3lumbian,
Whoever will examine u map of
Pennsylvania, must be struck with the
indefcnsibe manglng which her terri.
tory has undergone In the process of the
formation of counties.
In the first place many of them are
too small, being the offspring of spite
and local Office hunters, whose ambi-
tion being greater than their talents,
could only be gratihed by carviOg out
some little patch, including their own
neighborhoods, wherein to become The
great men. They have thus destroyed
the proper and legitimate influence of
their own county, In tho conventions
and politics Of the State, and entailed
additional burdens upon the commune
ty. The ambition of little men is a
curse to the country. The new county
mania was destructive of many great
interests but Senator Buckalew's Con-
stitutional Amendment went little
too far, in that it prevents the annexing
of sundry lines of adjoining counties,
by requiring under certain circumstan-
ces q local endorsement, which can sell
dom if ever be obtained.
Thus the second objection to the pres
ent arrangement is rendered almost as
impossible of correction, as the abroga-
tion of the Camcrons and Forests and
other excrescnces on the body polite
has been. But look for Il moment at a
small corner of MOntour county, cut OFF
by the Susluehlna Mt u neck of
Northumberland running for miles
along the river, nearly to the town of
Muncy, in Lycoming county, Look at
Centre, spread like spider among its
surroundings; at Perry, JuDiata and
Miflln, stretched on the rack of longi-
tude until they are painful to look at.
Glance your eye over the shape OF
Westmoroland, running a corner away
up into the middle of the State, and
then follow Armstrong, with still
more villainous projection. Doubtless
many of these, and Others not men.
toned, could be, and all should be re.
formed.
But in the third place these small
counties are the occasion of much per-
sonal, political, and local illfeeling and
discussion. Parallels of latitude, inn
agnary lines, arbitrary divisions make
enemies of neighDor5 who had else like
kindred drops been mingled into one.
Great aud important Interests are sac.
rifced to local pride, prejudice or ha.
tired whole counties are periodically
thrown into convulsion by the strug.
giles of politicians who had else never
been heard of, or if heard OF, lacking
local fulcrum for their puny lever, had
scarcely moved neighborhood, much
less county or two. But these local
fights do not die with the mere question
that raised them, or with the men who
first made battle about them, but they
are transmitted on from sire to son, and
every new grievance, sentimental or
real, adds fuel to the smouldering fire,
and the flame bursts out with new We.
hemence to defeat and destroy.
Cannot the coming Constitutional
Convention cure much Of this, by CIV
ing to each county in the State, at least
one member in the Lower House, pro-
hibiting absolutely the erection of new
counties, authorizing the Strengthening
of county lines and corners by vote
of the population to be transferred, and
the absorption of some, by vote of
those who are to lose political and nun.
cipal existence GERMANICUs.