622 MISC. PUBLICATION 218, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
public interest. The point is that such a service costs money, and 
if the consequent tax burden is heavy, forest owners, like all other 
classes, must accept heavy taxation. 
The waste and inefficiency which exist in government, particularly 
local government, can be attributed largely to overorganization, anti- 
quated machinery, and an untrained personnel. However innocent 
and impersonal these sources of waste, there is nevertheless no ques- 
tion that the total amount 1s large. It is not capable of exact quanti- 
tative measurement, but its existence is perceptible to any careful 
observer. Some of the evidences were presented in the part which 
deals with the absolute burden of taxation as controlled by govern- 
mental organization and functioning (pt. 8) and need not be repeated 
here. Likewise, in pointing out the sources of waste, the remedy was 
often suggested or implied. It is, therefore, necessary here only to 
make specific recommendations in respect to each type of maladjust- 
ment which is manifest. The first is in respect to the structure of 
rural local government. | 
REORGANIZATION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL AREAS 
There could unquestionably be a substantial saving in the cost 
of government in rural areas if the number of units were reduced. 
The multitude of small units which now exist is due to the fact that 
the general pattern of local government in every State was set up 
to meet pioneer conditions. Later, when these basic units proved 
unsuited to the administration of new functions, special districts 
of one kind or another were created and superimposed on the exist- 
ing framework. The result is a series of governments with over- 
lapping jurisdictions, a condition which in itself conspires against 
economy of administration and facility of control. 
The crusader might desire to obliterate all existing political 
boundaries and draw new lines in conformity with present resources 
and needs, but practical considerations will dictate otherwise. 
Political and social institutions are not created but evolved out of 
what exists before. The reorganization of local governmental 
areas in the United States should therefore be accomplished without 
any unnecessary upheaval. This does not mean that the task 
Howe not be attacked with boldness and pursued toward a rational 
oal. 
: The approach to the reorganization of local government must 
be both structural and functional. The county, town, or district 
is in one sense only a vehicle to provide education, highways, protec- 
tion, and other services. Yet, in another sense, the local unit of 
government is, or ought to be, more than a unit of administration. 
It ought to be a political entity, a conscious, vital community, in 
which the people are bound together by common interests and, 
through their government, advance their common purposes. This 
cannot be if people owe allegiance and pay taxes to four or five over- 
lapping jurisdictions. On the other hand, there can be a strong 
local government and a real community of interest when the political 
unit corresponds to a social and economic unit and the local political 
allegiance of the citizens is limited to that single unit. Local self- 
government, properly defined, should be preserved in the United 
States, for it is the very foundation of our republican institutions. 
