FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 283 
William Anderson of the University of Minnesota is attempting to 
get a complete enumeration of the political units in the United States. 
He includes only those that have a continuing board and the power 
to levy and expend taxes. With an incomplete list of special districts 
his count is approximately 147,000.% 
An eminent British administrator (116) says of American local 
government: 
The chief trouble in administration arises from the fact that in the same area 
of local government there are many separate boards, commissions, townships, 
counties, and other taxing bodies working independently of each other. The 
country which shows the world the finest examples of concentrated management 
of industry and business—the United States—is the country which seems to 
suffer most from this elaboration and overlapping in city or county government. 
are Practically every other country is moving in the right direction toward 
“fone town, one governing body,’’ and more study might be given this problem in 
the United States. 
This English observer is profoundly right. Most American tax- 
payers are living and struggling under 4, 5, 6, and more of what 
President Roosevelt calls ‘“‘layers of government.’’ Some of these 
layers are needless. 
TOWNSHIPS 
The fact that 25 Southern and Western States have never felt the 
need of the township indicates that this unit is not indispensable 
in the States where it exists and that it is a “layer” that might be 
removed. 
The township was first established in New England, as a village 
with its surrounding territory, and it was well adapted to pioneer 
conditions. It was carried westward by emigrants from New Eng- 
land to the newer States, but it never became such an important 
unit in these States as it had been in New England, (1) because 
conditions had changed, and (2) because it had to divide honors 
with the county. Thus, outside of New England, the town, or 
township, has generally been an artificial unit without a center and 
without any strong elements of cohesion. Nevertheless, in earlier 
days when travel was difficult, there was some justification for having 
road supervisors, overseers of the poor, and justices of the peace every 
few miles. ‘That need no longer exists, and there is a growing demand 
that the township be abolished everywhere outside of New England. 
(LY, F0jD. HS Sik USGS ME DO. UR HAD sin. MOIS MSI, Os Age Ica. 
pp. 4-58.) 
The New England town is excepted, (1) because the New England 
county is of so little importance, and (2) because the New England 
towns were built up around village centers, and many of them have 
continued to have a strong community consciousness. Moreover, 
most of the New England towns, except in Vermont, have no separate 
government for the villages, and both the rural and the semiurban 
portions of a town come under the control of the town government. 
Generally, when a village reaches the proportions of a city, the city 
government absorbs the town government, but in Connecticut the 
town organization is separately maintained even in the case of the 
largest cities. While many New England towns are densely popu- 
lated, the vast majority are predominantly rural, there being about 
1,400 with less than 5,000 population. 
87 ANDERSON, W. EXPLORATORY RESEARCH CONFERENCE ON THE REORGANIZATION OF THE AREA AND 
FUNCTIONS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT. Résumé of proceedings of conference held at the University of Chicago, 
May 7-8. 1932, 75 pp. (mimeographed). 
