Town meeting

“ THE VALUE OF THE TOWN MEETING The thing most characteristic of a town meeting is the lively and educating debate; for attendants on town meeting from year to year become skilled in parliamentary law, and effective in sharp, quick argument on their feet. Children and others than voters are allowed to be present as spectators. In every such assembly, four or five men ordinarily do half the talking; but anybody has a right to make suggestions or propose amendments, and occasionally even a non-voter is allowed to make a statement ”

“ The Town Meeting, in form, is a group of men and women who are organized to discuss such measures as would be introduced into a real town meeting, a city council or a state legislature, to relieve social ills. The ordinance or bill, as the case may be, is not a mere declaration of a theory, but a definite programme for carrying some theory of betterment into action. ”

“ WEAKENING OF GOVERNMENT BY TOWN MEETING Changing conditions, however, have tended to bring about changes in town government. In the early days the town meeting was a matter of great interest, and everybody attended, including the women and children. Many of the towns have now acquired large populations, the people are no longer acquainted with one another, and interest has declined. ”

“ Thus the people themselves, or more strictly speaking, the qualified voters, are the government. In some States special town meetings may be called for special purposes. The town meeting places local public affairs under the direct control of the people, and thus gives them a personal interest in the government, and makes them feel a personal responsibility for its acts. ”

“ The historian of political forms may see in the town meeting a forerunner of direct legislation. But no housewife dare classify the cat and the tiger, the dog and the fox, as the same kind of animal. And no statesman can argue the virtues of the referendum from the successes of the town meeting.
But the propagandists do it nevertheless, and their propaganda thrives upon it. The reason is simple. The town meeting is an obviously respectable institution, glorified by all the reverence men give to the dead. ”

“ Consequently when a town-meeting was held on any exciting subject in Faneuil Hall, those only who obtained places near the moderator could even hear the discussion. A few busy or interested individuals easily obtained the management of the most important affairs in an assembly in which the greater number could have neither voice nor hearing. When the subject was not generally exciting, town-meetings were usually composed of the selectmen, the town officers, and thirty or forty inhabitants. ”

“ It is impossible to estimate the value of the New England Town Meeting as an organ of discipline in common thought; and some such focus of public discussion there should be in every community. Nowadays the community elects a board or a council and relegates the function of discussion to this body, and so far as its local affairs are concerned goes to sleep until the next election, except perhaps for a small minority chiefly composed of hostile critics. This elected body rarely reaches a plane of initiative and leadership in thought even within the narrow province committed to its care. ”

“ It was in the "town-meeting—the old "New England town-meeting"—that he showed his peculiar tact and strength. The men of the town were there to settle the knotty question of "new roads," "improved schools," "care of the poor," and a long list of similar points. It is always a question with boys "how they make Presidents," and it is no less so how they make "selectmen and supervisors;" ”

“ At the adjourned meeting I gave my reasons in writing to the town, and a reporter for the Boston Herald being present, had it printed in full in the Sunday edition of that paper. The legislature was still in session, and the judiciary committee acknowledging the correctness of my ruling at once secured the passage of an act authorizing the appointment of tellers in town meetings.
The question has often been asked whether a moderator can participate in debate. ”

“ In present-day New England even a small village has its town house, containing a large hall, which serves for town meetings and for community assemblies for various social purposes. In the town meeting the administrative officers, called selectmen, are chosen annually, and minor officers, including clerk, treasurer, constables, and school committee; there the community taxes itself for the salaries of its officials, for the support of the town poor, for the maintenance of highways, and for such modern improvements as street lights and a public library. ”

“ In the kind of discussion which it provokes, in the necessity of facing argument with argument and of keeping one's temper under control, the town-meeting is the best political training school in existence. Its educational value is far higher than that of the newspaper, which, in spite of its many merits as a diffuser of information, is very apt to do its best to bemuddle and sophisticate plain facts. The period when town-meetings ware most important from the wide scope of their transactions was the period of earnest and sometimes stormy discussion that ushered in our Revolutionary war. ”

“ From the outset the government of the township was vested in the TOWN-MEETING,--an institution which in its present form is said to be peculiar to New England, but which, as we shall see, has close analogies with local self-governing bodies in other ages and countries. Once in each year--usually in the month of March--a meeting is held, at which every adult male residing within the limits of the township is expected to be present, and is at liberty to address the meeting or to vote upon any question that may come up. ”

“ I refer to the New England town meeting, at which all purely town matters are decided without appeal by the vote of the townspeople in meeting assembled. In no other part of the world, save in two or three cantons of Switzerland, and perhaps in certain districts of Norway, is there any form of government so absolutely democratic, so absolutely popular, as the New England town meeting. ”

“ The average American country town, uninvaded by industrialism, is the natural type, for here the "town meeting" of our forefathers is practicable, and this remains the everlasting frame and model of self-government. In the case of a city the primary unit would be of approximately the same size, and the entire municipality would be divided into wards each containing, say, about five hundred voters. ”

“ Papers addressed to the Town Meeting, other than petitions, memorials and remonstrances, may be presented by the Moderator, or by a citizen in his place, and shall be read, unless it is specifically ordered that the reading be dispensed with.
14. No bill shall be acted upon by the Town Meeting until it has been reported by the committee to which it has been referred: provided, however, that the Moderator may call upon any committee to report a bill before it, if in his judgment said report is unduly delayed. No bill shall be put to a final vote without having been read three several times. ”

“ Attend town meeting regularly, be economical but not stingy in your appropriations, pay good salaries and wages for honest service. Be partisans if you wish, in State and National elections, but in choosing your town servants, get the best men regardless of politics. ”

“ In other words, while it tends to better SERVICE, it reduces the value of the town meeting as a means of EDUCATION FOR DEMOCRACY.
TOWN PLANNING Another arrangement that has been adopted in a good many towns is the TOWN PLANNING BOARD. This is a committee which, after careful study of existing conditions and tendencies of community growth, formulates a definite PLAN for the promotion of the community's interests during a period of years. ”

“ He is a tiptoe for town meeting ; he has many schemes and improvements in his head ; — namely, for separating the offices of constable and collector ; collecting taxes has laid the foundation for the ruin of many families. He is for five selectmen, and will vote for the old ones, Mr. Quincy and Major Miller. He hears they are for turning out all the old selectmen, and choosing a new set ; they for having but three, &c. The only way is to oppose schemes to schemes, and so break in upon them. Cleverly will become a great town-meeting man, and a great speaker in town meeting. ”

“ The fish weirs, most of them, are taken up, lest the ice, which will be driven into the bay later on, tear the nets to pieces. Even the hens grow lazy and lay less frequently. Therefore, away back in the “airly days,” some far-sighted board of selectmen arranged that “town meeting” should be held during this lackadaisical season. A town meeting—and particularly a Bayport town meeting, where everything from personal affairs to religion is likely to be discussed—can stir up excitement when nothing else can. ”

“ The second plan is modelled after the old-fashioned town meeting that was transplanted from the mother country to New England, and has spread to other parts of the United States. It is a gathering of all who wish to discuss freely some question that interests them all, and it is more strictly co-operative than the first plan, for there is no one speaker to contribute the main part of the debate, but each may make his own contribution, and by the power of his own persuasion win for his argument the decision of the meeting. ”

“ A large part of the program of the community organization is carried out by the voluntary agencies of the community. But a great many of its proposals must have the approval of the official town meeting, require appropriations which can only be made by the town meeting, and are finally executed by the public officials of the town. The organization naturally stimulates interest in the official government, and brings to its support all the organized agencies of the community working together. ”

“ The selectmen alone have the right of calling a town-meeting; but they may be requested to do so: if the citizens are desirous of submitting a new project to the assent of the township, they may demand a general convocation of the inhabitants ”

“ The circular letter requested of each town a free communication of sentiments on the subjects of the report, and was directed to the select men, who were desired to lay the same before a town meeting, which has been generally practised, and the proceedings of the town upon the business have been transmitted to the committee at Boston. This committee have their particular correspondents in the several towns, who, upon receiving any special information, are ready to spread it with dispatch among the inhabitants. It consists of twenty-one persons of heterogeneous qualities and professions, &c. ”

“ You may have a perfectly good idea for helping solve a problem but many a time you don’t know whether it is something the State should take up or whether it belongs to the city or possibly to the town. So in the Town Meeting the citizen must make up his mind where his proposed measure belongs. ”

“ the laws and the entire scheme of our civil rule, from the town meeting to the State capitals and the national capital, is yours. Your every voter, as surely as your Chief Magistrate, under the same high sanction, though in a different sphere, exercises a public trust. Nor is this all. Every citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch and close scrutiny of its public servants and a fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity and usefulness. Thus is the people's will impressed upon the whole framework of our civil polity—municipal, State, and Federal; ”

“ I now enclose the proceedings of this town at a meeting appointed to receive the report of the committee, which is attested by the town-clerk, and published by order of the town.
Our enemies are taking all imaginable pains to disparage the proceedings, and prevent their having any effect in the country. They are particularly endeavouring to have it believed, that the vote was carried at a very thin meeting ”

“ The hall in every part was densely crowded, though fewer ministers were present than at any former sitting. At twenty minutes to five o'clock, the Rev. Thos. Spencer resumed the chair. He said a few more gentlemen might address the meeting for five minutes each. Mr. Brown, of Wareham, moved:—"That the most cordial thanks of this conference be given to the worshipful the mayor and the boroughreeve of this borough, for the kindness with which they have granted the use of the Town Hall for its accommodation." ”

“ A general call of ward-meetings by their wardens on the same day through the State, would at any time produce the genuine sense of the people on any required point, and would enable the State to act in mass, as your people have so often done, and with so much effect, by their town-meetings. ”

“ It enacts by-laws and ordinances, receives the reports of the local officials, passes their accounts, manages the town property, votes appropriations for each item of expenditure, and authorizes the necessary taxation. Every resident citizen has the right to bring forward and to speak in favour of any proposal. The meeting is presided over by a chairman called the moderator. In rural communities the attendance is usually good, the debates are sensible and practical, and a satisfactory administration is generally secured. ”

“ Here was our New England town almost exactly as it is to-day. The inhabitants met at stated times and voted what seemed necessary for their own local order and welfare, and committed the execution of their will to twelve selectmen, who were to meet monthly. Our towns now have an annual meeting for the same purpose, and elect generally three selectmen, who meet at stated times,—sometimes as often as once a week. Watertown followed, about the same time, selecting three men "for the ordering of public affairs." ”