Excerpt from Government in the United States: National, State, and Local Merits of Local self-government. - In the United States, local self-government is regarded as one of the chief merits of our political system, and is often declared to be one of the inalienable rights of the people. One great advantage of local self-government is that it brings government near the door of every citizen, and permits the people of each locality, who are most familiar with their own local condi tions and who know best what are their local needs, to regu late their own affairs as they see fit. Also, such a system is well calculated to secure responsibility. So long as the local authorities are chosen by the community from its own inhabitants and are constantly under the eyes of the people, they can be more effectively controlled and made amenable to local public opinion than is possible where they are chosen by authorities distantly removed. An other irnportant advantage of local self-government is that it serves as a training school for the political education of the citizens. Allow them the privilege of choosing their own local officials and of regulating their own local concerns, and their interest in public affairs will be stimulated and their political intelligence increased and broadened. This not only will tend to secure more responsible government (local, state, and national), but will produce a moreoactive type of citizenship. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Local Self-Government and Centralization: The Characteristics of Each; And Its Practical Tendencies, as Affecting Social, Moral, and Political Welfare and Progress, Including Comprehensive Outlines of the English Constitution The nature of this Work is sufficiently stated in the Introduction, and summed up in the Conclusion It is only necessary to say here, that it is designed to give a view of Broad and Lasting principles. It is not temporary, either in subject or object though the Principles developed will, as being permanent and fun damental, find immediate application to many questions of interest at the time of its publication. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Local Self-Government Un-Mystified: A Vindication of Common Sense, Human Nature, and Practical Improvement, Against the Manifesto of Centralism, Put Forth at the Social Science Association, 1857 The Manifesto of Centralism here noticed, was first published to the world in the columns of The Mac} on the 17th October, 1857. The first edition of the present work was published on the 7th November following. A large edition having already become exhausted, a few chiefly verbal revi sions have been made in this edition; and two Extracts, on the important point of certainty in the Law, have been added. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Excerpt from The Origin and Development of Local Self-Government: In England and the United States An eminent historian has said that the institution of municipal corporations contributed more, perhaps, than any other cause to the emancipation of Europe from the thraldom of feudalism. If we may believe all that the prophets of evil have to say about the condition of local self-government in the United States, the future historian will trace the destruction of liberty in the great republic to the development of those corporations, the original institution of which brought light out of darkness. The more conspicuous instances of misgovernment have been dwelt upon with such force, and to such an extent, that there is some danger of breeding a spirit, which, instead of seeking a remedy consistent with the preservation of the rights of self-government, will be content with nothing less than the destruction of those rights by the establishment of a centralized system of administration, such as exists in republican France. There has been a significant change during the last quarter of a century, and more especially since the late war, in the feelings with which the people of this country exercise what may be called their minor political duties. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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