THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23,
u THE WAYNES VILLE MUfWIAwaan . - - --
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3 jr 3 I , inhabitant .;f a city or incorporated 1 "QU" ! POTPUUKK1 ,
How worm Carolina tut 11::':::::':::.- 11 r-:i ":
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Dwe Mnniieg ExpeEses,lr;:"71 ' --V'i
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Kenarclin Aiirth Carolina . v. i ay.i -" ;' ; !';!'- V."'' ""' !'"'!; ' ""':'r ' j , I ' I
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'... Writer. ;. ,"-:.'; r .-cted. .- -
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II. -p.tc- i.l uwla - -- ,' . . ;, r : when
America municapa! govi-nmu nt ,' '' ; - - - - J S3 Jf a . F
during tin- past thi.ty year, h:: im-.'''--- ' : I ' am Pi BBS
pmvrd .-tvadilv in tr,n...n.v .ilk-ion-, North 'ar.!ii.a u-.- ;..v kmfc T1 "TS l& 1 8 7111 J ft fasdA
cv and honcm-. Thi- -:!.-. mivht W : ( ; .v.-rn-r O. Max (Jard,i-r ca!k-d his II I f. j Tf4 f S Mtf 1 fc
said with important .v.crvaticn.s I .'i.sla.ur,. f.K'-thcr F-r ..nci., local 1 II I I I 3 O H It : 1 . fifl VV
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! U-tfislatiVe es-
To
jl TAXPAYERS
At the (iawn i . the cfiuury no
had a bucket systt-m. Ky l'j:i2 forty-sevi-n
of '.hem had taken to the bud
get and the one exception. Arkansas,
was bankrupt.
In l'JOO the Governor? of mot
States were only nominally the execu
tive heads of their administrations.
From five to twelve other State offi
cials often belonging to an opposi
tion party, were elected by the people
and had the constitutional rig-lit to
defy a chief executive.
Steadily Governors have acquired
more teal power, have moved nearer
the ideal condition of representative
government a responsible head un
der the eye of a Legislature with the
power of impeachment- Or. as
Pudd'n'head Wilson expressed it:
"Put all your eggs in one basket
and watch that, basket."
A few of the States, like Maryland
and New Hampshire, have reorgan
ized their bureaus, put their expert
services into the hands of real ex
perts installed modern bookkeeping
methods. Nearly half of the rest
liavu moved in this direction.
Those States can save very little
more except by the process of shav
ing thu-c services which the citizen
demands like care of public health,
education and maintenance of roads.
Hut the -mailer unites municipali
ties, town-hips counties and "spe
cial" are the great squanderers of
iur tax money.
These small governments, according
to our experts n taxation, forni the
black spot in American democracy.
It is also the spot Where we can save
most to the taxpayer by sensible reor
ganization. The stake is titanic
between two and three billion dollars
a year!
Now the States arc nominally sov
ereign over the-e .-mall, divisions. By
revision of their constitutions and a
- majority vote of their citizens the
States could even annihilate them.
: In practice, old habits embalmed
customs, archaic laws and the co
hesive force of three million political
jobholders keen things . pretty much
as they Were at the beginning of the
; century or of the last century- for
that matter.
Yet Virginia ha.- dared to squeeze
the this;le and found that it doesn't
prick. She has largely taken to the
State itself such powers as road
building and education. -persuaded her
counties to combin,. for such functions
as ciiru of prisoners, and the poor,
opened, the way for amalgamation of
counties and the -cnsilde, business
like county manager system.
'Another State 'Ninth Carolina', has
gone even further in another direc
tion. Shv is on the way to gather
almost every function i f government,
outside of the incorporated towns, in
to the hands of th" State. Tlie.fo.rm-les-
County, with -on s of minor offi
cials., hu'lf of them useless, and with
no executive head i- the comedian
and spendthrift of our American
political -'-scheme,' North Carolina- it
would seem, is mi the ..way to aWish
the county by leaving it nothing to do.
North Carolina we almost, .wholly
agricultural in 1 !Ki. When the New
Knglanct cojlon manufacturers )()
gan to move South it became im
portant industrially- It built up the
resorts in its- low heakhful moun
tains. WValih multiplied. And the
State- with a new- energetic element
in control, started to create a phy
sical plant worthy of vts destiny.
Notably.'-'-it built .'a system "of hard
and semi-hard roads .-scarcely" excelled
in this country. As happened nearly
everywhere in boom times, the smalL
or units of government Went optoniis-
: tic and plunged into debt.
When in ".1029 the crash came they
found themselves distinctly emb-'.r-rassed.
Thirty towns and counties
went into bankruptcy ; others tottered
"fin the edge- By some counties
es-e) .
Xort
I .vi i n
I.i gisla
political maciiir.es
of consecrated tie
small influence on
sion.
When the .-ess. on adjourned the
State of North Carolina, as con
trasted with its counties, had sole
charge of the two most import int
practical activities of a modein
American State education and high
ways. Just as completely, it had ' ken
over that important secondary func
tion care of prisoners. Further, it
had asserted its sovereignty over
the finances of the towns and coun
ties within its borders by providing
that they could contract no bonded
indebtedness without permission of a
State board.
Now the State conducts the road
building and road maintenance, from
purchase of supplies to sweeping of
cement. Ignoring the old local units,
which used to work loosely under
control from the capital, it put a
good road engineer in charge of the
whole job. appointed live otner ex
perts to command subdivisions, se
lected from the county road officials
those who best knew their jobs and
made them non-commissioned officers
in this army.
Officials in the .backward counties
had in former years a way of build
ing dirt roads and letting them go
to pieces for lack of care. Today,
every inch of road in North Carolina
is patrolled by a man responsible for
its maintenance-
lieing semi-tropical. North Caro
lina has usually handled her prison
ers in "camp's-" rather than in jails.
The Southern chain gang, under small,
limited county management. has
often furnished awful examples to the
prison reformers.
The State t,Hll over the whole bus
iness of prison camps put it in charge
of men who understand modern
methods, set -1.(1(10 prisoners. -to work
on the roads. Having at. all times a
general strategic plan, the directors
u; . ,n,l lhi
I Ol LOIS Jlll.-Oll , - uii-., ......
! gangs to any point in the ,'ate where
they might be neeneu.
The State government assumed
full charire of education. It began
l.v inrii-anteeimr. everv child within
it's borders six months . of schooling
every year. A State officialy .ap
points 'the local superintendents. Here.
work, tile central au
conccssions to local
thev are only the
1 in
of
Si I
or
a-i in the.roail
tlmrities make
feeling. Dut
h inds of -the State
And in 1 ;:i'J North Carolina not
only gav,, in these three departments
better -i rvicc than before but it hail
cut taxes on land-by about $12. 11.1)0.00(1
- 20 per cent. That was a period of
ti in-ition. involving extra expense.
'North Carolina expects to do even
(u-Mei- this rear.
Tile citizen.-, have accepted this
change with singularly little fu-s and
opposition. North Carolina may in
time go th(. whole i outer take over
dl functions, of government- except
the town.-, and administer each
them under a -ingle head respon
le to the Legislature, the Govern
and the voters. If that ever hap
pens the; expensive, . outdated county
governments must fold "up and die
of anaemia.
No one doubts that this strong cen
tralization would be the most econom
ical and efficient, form of State gov
ernment under '-mode rn ..conditions,.
consideration aside
and efficiency makes
prefer the Virginia
tire to tireserve the
.pint' of representative democracy w(
must preserve also some measure of
local government. The small political
affairs of a small unit furnish an
unrivalled school of citizenship.
There: the citizen and voter learns
1 mlf ' . to distinguish Ix't ween gold
and brass: there our future leaders
get . their , primary education. . The
All Property on Which 1932 Tax
es Have Not Been Paid Will Be
Advertised for Sale Thursday,
November 30th, And Will Be Sold
on The Fourth Monday in Dec.
In Order to Prevent Property from
Being Sold And To A void A dditi
onal Cost, we Urge All Who Have
NotPaidl932Taxes
But another
from economy
ru uiy experts. .
plan. It v
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Giving This Matter A
ommissioeers
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