The Bad River news. [volume] (Philip, Stanley County, S.D.) 19??-1912, 1909-03-25
ONE DOLLAR 4 YEAR

the NorlllWcStern railroad nap
llng. That corporation pays
township taxes in just one town
ship in the county through which
It's line rams, because in the other
townships no levy was made last
year in the manner and at the
time required by law.
rs rule about one-third of the
townships that do hold elections
on the first Tuesday in March.
fail to make the proper reports to
the county auditor and clerk of
courts. Officers are not properly
sworn in and qualified, many Of
them never file their bonds ard
oath> ut all. In one of the tow
ships that the writer is personally
acquainted with only three Of the
ten officers elected last year quail
fed and assumed the duties of their
Offices.
In several townships ut the pres
ent time special township elections
are being held, but in one or two
instances the elections are being
held rs deferred annual meetings
and not as special elections. At
these elections attempted tax levies
will be made.
SO far rs the county is concern
ed it has run local affairs for many
years and it's tendency is to con-
tinue running them. Assessors
are not elected or qualified in tho
townships, SO the county, and nec-
essarily too, steps in and does tho
assessing. Poll taxes are not COL
lected by the township, so the
county taxes them and you usually
find it attempting to collect poll
taxes even where the township has
already done SO. The townships
and other local government do not
make their levies, so the county
attempts TO do that, soaking the
township the limit or giving it the
minimum rs the case may be.
But the list of irregularities has
already grown too long. A word
must be said as to the causes that
bring about the conditions indi-
Gated. In the first place the poo-
pie do not know how things should
be done. Many of them, like tho
writer, came from adjoining states
recently whore the general scheme
OF local government differs widely
from that fo.nd on our statute
books. When we want TO do
things we naturally try to do them
in the way they were done in ILL.,
nois or some other state, and usu-
ally we try to do them the wrong
way. Many of us never heard Of
the county commissioner system
until We came to this state. The
powers and duties of that board,
we'll known to residents of the
state, must be slowly discovered
by large percentage of our popu-
latiOn. In those states from which
many of us came, we knew from
the time when we were children.
when the annual town meeting
was held, and what duties it should
perform. We knew how schools
we're managed locally, but here We
t1ounder helplessly about struQRl-
ing with the intricies of new sys-
tenn.
Again, our shifting population
plays havoc with attempts 1T local
self government. A new lot of
voters arc here this year from
those that voted last. Some of
ouI local officers after they have
been elected complacently pack up
their belongings and return to
their former homes in the East.
and no successors are appointed or
elected.
There can never be any perman-
ercy in our local government, un-
I'll there is some permanency in
our homes. A nomadic peopla
never have had, and never CO..
have any established of effective
system of government. And it il
only when q man settles down to 4
1 fixed place of abode that he needs
any form of government any way.
/ Gradually a change will come
about. The people each year will
learn more and more of what is re-
quired of them in the MANAGEMENT
of their governmental affairs. The
work of the county and that of the
townships will become co-ordinat-
ed, and each will properly per-
form the duties allotted to it. Our
schools will not then depend solely
upon county supervision and direc-
tion. The system of tax levy, as-
sessment, and collection will be-
come understood, and the town.
ships will assume their part in
that work. Local development
and improvements will then re-
ceive financial support and atten-
tion that they cannot hope for at
present. But until that time