sometimes on other grounds; but without establishing a definite system of classification. The use of optional laws, effective only in communities which vote to adopt them, has been extended; and in a number of cases such laws have been passed with special reference to a particular community. New types of local districts have been created, such as park, drainage, sanitary, high school and public health districts, with overlapping jurisdiction covering the same territory as other types of local districts and adding to the complexities of local government.

Optional laws and the creation of overlapping districts have been upheld by the supreme court; and there is apparently no limit under the present constitution to the extent to which these methods may be employed. The classification of local districts has also been upheld in a number of cases; but in other cases some forms of classification have been held invalid, as being based on no reasonable relation to the purposes of the act.2

Some other tendencies in the legislation and in the general conditions of local government since 1870 may be briefly noted. The movement in the direction of decentralization has continued, as illustrated by the further extension of the township system, and by the introduction (in 1887) of elective road district commissioners in counties not under township organization. The latter change removed one of the important distinctions between the two forms of county government in Illinois. The creation of new types of local districts also illustrates the tendency towards decentralization.

At the same time, but more especially in the last twenty years, there have been distinct steps in the direction of more centralized local government. This has been indicated by changes in the laws increasing the powers and importance of county officers, as compared with the town officers, in such matters as the administration of poor relief, highways and the assessment and collection of taxes, and by the reduction in the number of town highway commissioners from three to one. The declining importance of the civil town has been aided by the close restrictions on its power of taxation and the failure to enlarge its authority; and is reflected in the gradual disappearance of the town meeting as an active agency, and the exercise of such town functions as remain by administrative officers acting under the minute regulations of statute law.

More notable has been the great development of municipal powers and functions in the incorporated cities and villages. This has been due primarily to the increase of urban population; but has been aided by the fact that the urban districts have been adjusted in area from time to time with changes in population so as to correspond more closely to the needs for public services than the fixed and artificial boundaries of the townships. Moreover the organization of urban government under the cities and villages act and still more under the commission plan has been placed on a more concentrated and systematic basis than that of other local authorities.

Devine v. Commissioners of Cook County, 84 111.. 590 (1877): People v. Knopf, 183 Ill. 410 (1900); Douglas v. People, 225 Ill. 536 (1907). See Bulletin No. 6, on Municipal Home Rule.

Still further, there has been a considerable development of state administration in fields formerly in the hands of local officials. State aid and supervision of local authorities have been established in the case of schools through the Superintendent of Public Instruction; for county jails and poor houses, through the State Board of Charities, replaced by the State Charities Commission, and in 1917, by the department of Public Welfare; in the work of road construction, by the State Highway Commission and the present department of Public Works and Buildings; and in the assessment of property for taxation by the State Tax Commission, established in 1919.

In other cases a more complete transfer of functions from local to state officials has been accomplished, as in the assessment of railroad property by the State Board of Equalization, and now by the State Tax Commission; the development of state charitable institutions whose management was more thoroughly centralized under the State. Board of Administration in 1909 and combined with the state correctional institutions under the department of Public Welfare in 1917; and the control of public utilities by the Public Utilities Commission established in 1913.

The reorganization of state administration, by the civil administrative code of 1917, into an integrated and coherent system, does not directly affect the machinery of local government. But it serves as further indication of the tendency towards more systematic and efficient public administration. And at the same time, it offers a marked contrast, to the unorganized arrangements in most of the local districts and in the local governments as a whole.

III. PRESENT CONDITIONS IN ILLINOIS.

Introductory. Local government in Illinois is now regulated by a considerable number of constitutional provisions and a more numerous aggregation of laws scattered through the statutes. In addition to the laws on the more important local governments, cities and villages, counties and township organization, there are other important chapters in the Revised Statutes which must be considered, including those on courts, drainage, elections, parks, revenue, roads and bridges, and schools, and a considerable number of shorter chapters on still other subjects, such as various county officers, fees and salaries, and justices and constables. Altogether some thirty chapters in the Revised Statutes bear directly on different phases of this subject; while there are many further provisions in other chapters. All of the more important chapters of the Revised Statutes have been frequently amended, and also supplemented by numerous acts dealing with particular topics. A good number of acts apply only to certain classes within a general type of local districts; while other laws are optional, and have been adopted only by some districts; and in some cases such laws apply in fact only to a single district.

The result is a confusing mass of legislation, which, while less bulky than the special legislation before 1870, is nevertheless highly complex; and the task of extracting even the main features of the existing arrangements is one of no little difficulty.

There are three main types of local government districts: counties, townships and school districts. Every part of the state is at the same time in a county, a school township and a school district; and every part of the state is also in a civil township or a road district. In addition there are about a thousand cities, villages and incorporated towns; and also a considerable number of drainage, park, high school, and other special districts. All of these municipal districts overlap each other; and the result is a more complicated and confusing network of local areas and local authorities than in any other state. Still further, there are several classes of other districts-senatorial, judicial and congressional-, composed for the most part of groups. of counties, for electoral and judicial purposes. Each of these classes in turn overlaps the other; and adds further to the complexity of the electoral and governmental organization.

Moreover, there is no official record of all of these local districts. Many districts are formed by local proceedings, recorded only in the county, or in some cases only in the records of minor local authorities.

Some confusion is caused by the different meanings for the terms town and township. The congressional township is a geographical area used in the land surveys, and as such has no political significance; but is in most cases (but not always) co-terminous with the school township. The civil town, under the township organization law, is more often different in area from the school and congressional township. Incorporated towns are villages organized under special charters before 1870.

County Government.

County Areas and County Seats. The state constitution contains a series of detailed restrictions as to the creation of new counties, changes of county boundaries and removal of county seats; and these are supplemented by statutory provisions on the same subject, and for the union of counties. In fact no new counties have been created since 1859, and no counties have been united.

There are 102 counties in the state, 29 with less than 400 square miles, the minimum area for new counties, and several with less than 200 square miles, while half a dozen counties are more than 1,000 square miles in area. In population, the counties range from 7,000 to more than 2,500,000; 50 counties had less than 25,000, and 17 had more than 50,000 population in 1910.

A good many difficulties in the operation of county government arise from these wide variations in area and population. The county officers required by the constitution are more than are needed in many of the small counties; and more efficient and economical administration could be secured by combining the functions of two or more officials, or by giving some officials jurisdiction over several of the smaller counties, or by uniting several small counties. In other populous states, most counties are both larger in area and have more population than many counties in Illinois.

The increase in population in Illinois since 1870 has been in the larger counties with urban population, while the small counties have decreased in population since 1900.

Referendum votes are required by the constitution and by statutes for a number of county matters: for the organization of new counties, for changes in boundaries or for the union of counties, for issuing bonds, for levying county taxes above the constitutional limit of 75 cents on the $100, for adopting or discontinuing township organization, or for establishing a tuberculosis sanitarium. In counties under township organization such votes are required on the question of township support of paupers; and in counties not under township organization for the construction of public buildings, or the establishment of a county normal school.

County government is regulated to a considerable extent by constitutional provisions, and in further detail by statutory legislation. But it cannot be said that any definite principles of organization have been followed. There is an elective county board, and a considerable

list of elective administrative and judicial officers; but the distribution of powers does not follow at all closely the traditional American theory; nor is there even a nominal chief executive corresponding to the governor or mayor.

County Boards. Each county is a body politic and corporate; and its powers as such are exercised by a county board in one of three distinct types. In counties not under township organization (now 17 in number) the state constitution provides for "The Board of County Commissioners," consisting of three members elected at large, one each year. For Cook County, the constitution provides for a board of fifteen commissioners, ten elected from the city of Chicago and five from the towns outside of the city; and by statute these commissioners are now elected for a four-year term, and a member is elected as president of the board with special powers.

For the eighty-four counties under township organization, the county law provides for boards of supervisors, elected by towns at the town meetings in April for terms of two years. The number of supervisors varies with the number of towns in the county, and assistant supervisors are also elected from the larger towns (one for each 2,500 population over 4,000). The size of these county boards ranges from 5 in Putnam. county, to 53 in LaSalle county. In eighteen counties there are 30 or more members.

The large boards of supervisors have been supported on the theory that they form the legislative branch of county government. But they have practically no legislative power; and for their administrative functions their size makes them unwieldy and ineffective. Most states have county boards of from three to seven members; and only five or six states have such large county boards as in Illinois.

Replies to inquiries sent to county officials by a committee of the General Assembly in 1912, showed a marked difference of opinion as between the two main types of county boards in Illinois. A majority of replies were in favor of the small boards of commissioners; and the proportion on this side was greater among the replies from the more populous counties with the larger boards of supervisors. This situation seems to indicate the desirability of an intermediate form of county board organization, between the small boards of three, and the larger boards of supervisors; and it would seem advisable for the constitution to permit such intermediate types in counties which wish them.

All three types of county boards have the same general powers, though each class has some additional powers, all of which are set forth in detail in the statutes. They have charge of county buildings and other property; they levy county taxes; they control county finances to some extent; they have limited powers as to roads, bridges, ferries, and county ditches and drains; they maintain poor farms, jails and workhouses, and may grant pensions to the blind and to dependent mothers; they have some powers in connection with elections, fill vacancies in county offices, prepare jury lists, and may grant certain bounties and rewards; they may make appropriations for county fairs and farmers' institutes; and organize townships or road districts.