Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-09-07
BEST OF GOOD GOVERNMENT
New England Township System is the
Thing.

ihiTSs
Clarence Poe in Progressive Farmer.
1 pointed out in last weeks Pro-
gressive Farmer the three things that
have made New England great
Books and Banks and Township Gov
eminent, or Education, Thrift and
Democracy.
How Education and Thrift have
helped, 1 then tried to make plain.
This week 1 wish to point u the great
influence Of New England's township
system of government, pronounced by
Thomas Jefferson 1.-The wisest inven-
ton ever devised by the wit Of man
for the perfect exercise Of self-gov-
ernment"-and if anybody has ever
been an authority on self-government
Thomas Jefferson was.
1.-The governments of the southern
states before the civil war;" a great
southern statesman has said, while
in form a democracy, were in fact an
aristocracy"; and speaking broadly, it
is true to this day Of our states and
counties that they are not as demo-
cratic as they ought to be. 1t may
not be an aristocracy which rules, but
in too many cases it is a political ring
or clique without the virtues of an
aristocracy.
We simply haven't the machinery
for letting the people rule in a real
and effective way; and perhaps not one
person in fifty who calls himself a
follower and disciple of the immortal
Jefferson realizes that he declared that
this township system of government
the subdivision Of the county into
wards" for self-government-was the
very foundation-stone of true democ-
racy.
AS soon as the Revolution was over,
he tells us, he drew a bill for the Vir-
ginia legislature which proposed to lay
off every county into self-governing
wards or townships five OF six miles
square with a public school in the
center; and as long as he lived he
never ceased to urge the importance
of this action. AS long a. he had
breath he declared when an old man,
he was going to fight for just two
things: public education and the sub
division of the counties into wards
(townships): I consider the %continu-
ance of the republican government as
absolutely hanging on these two
hooks" And in 1916 he wrote: 1.-THE
article nearest my heart Is the SUBJ
division Of the counties into wards Cor
townships"
Perhaps I ought to say here that
New Englanders call a township a
town" though everybody in it may
be a farmer with no sign of a village,
but to avoid confusion 1 shall substi-
tute the word township" throughout
this article.
The Township System Explained.
Now why was Jefferson so supreme
ly interested in establishing the town.
ship system of government in the
south? 1t wasn't because he simply
had a theory that 1t was "the wisest
invention ever devised for the perfect
exercise of self-government," but be-
cause the experience Of New England
had proved it so. Jefferson saw that
with the county as the smallest unit of
government in the south, the people
as a whole would not control. There
was no provision for general mass
meetings Of all the voters Of the coun-
ty to control their affairs, and If there
had been, distances In a county were
too great for all the people to come
together. Consequently Jefferson real
lied that If the county was to be the
smallest unit of government, a few
.aristocrats or a few bosses would con-
troll; and it Is undoubtedly true that
the aristocratic classes in Virginia
realized the same thing and conse-
quently prevented the establishment
of the township system he advocated.
Let us see just how this township
system works. 1 have long been in
terested in it, and when I found 1 was
going up into Massachusetts, recently,
1 determined to look into it more
closely than ever. before.
Each county in New England is sub
divided into such townships as Jeffer-
son proposed in Virginia-communities
about five miles square so that the
farthest citizen is two and a one-half
miles from the center-and each
township is "a small republic in it
SELF as he declared. Once a year all
the voters Of the townships come to-
gether in m~ass-nieeting to elect their
officers, to vote upon all questions af-
fecting the community's welfare, and
to decide upon taxes for schools, roads
and other purposes; and similar mass
meetings may be called at any time
(upon petition Of a proper proportion
Of v~oters) to pass upon any other
public questions that may come up.
Gordon, in his History Of indie
pendence in the United States" de-
scribes a New England township
meeting in Revolutionary times in
words just as applicable today:
Every township is an incorporated
republic. The selectmen Township
commissioners) upon their W au-
thority, or upon the application Of a
certain number Of citizens, issue a
warrant for the calling Of a township
meeting. The warrant mentions the
business to be engaged in. and no 9TH
er can be legally executed. The in
habitants are warned to attend; and
they that are present, though not a
quarter or a tenth of the whole, have
a right to proceed Each in
dividual has an equal liberty Of deliv-
ering his opinion and is not liable to
silenced or brow-beaten by a richer
or greater citizen than himself. Ev-
cry freeman of freeholder gives his
vote or not. and for or against, as he
pleases, and each vote weighs equally
whether that of the highest or lowest
inhabitant."
How Each Community Rules Itself.
At these annual township meetings