water supply systems, New England towns lead the rest of the country.
"The influence," says Mr. Nelson, "of the town meeting government upon
the physical character of the country, upon the highways and bridges,
and upon the appearance of the villages, is familiar to all who have
traveled through New England. The excellent roads, the stanch bridges,
the trim tree-shaded streets, the universal signs of thrift and of the
people's pride in the outward aspects of their villages, are too well
known to be dwelt upon." In every New England community many of the men
are qualified by experience to take charge of a public meeting and
conduct its proceedings with some regard to the forms observed in
parliamentary bodies. But elsewhere in the Union few of the citizens
have any knowledge of such forms and observances. "In New England there
is not a voter who may not, and very few voters who do not, actively
participate in the work of government. In the other parts of the country
hardly any one takes part in public affairs except the office-holder."

John Fiske, in "Civil Government in the United States," (1890), says
that "the general tendency toward the spread of township government in
the more recently settled parts of the United States is unmistakable."
The first western state to adopt the town meeting system was Michigan;
but it now prevails in four-fifths of the counties of Illinois; in
one-sixth of Missouri, where it was begun in 1879; and in one-third of
the counties of Nebraska, which adopted it in 1883; while it has gone
much further in Minnesota and Dakota, in which states it has been law
since 1878 and 1883, respectively.

"Within its proper sphere," says Fiske, "government by town meeting is
the form of government most effectively under watch and control.
Everything is done in the full daylight of publicity. The specific
objects for which public money is to be appropriated are discussed in