poor. Help may be given to paupers in their own homes, or other people may be paid to provide for them, or a contract may be made with an adjoining county having a poor-house. If any one needs support continually for some length of time, as a person not able to work, the overseers require an order from two justices of the peace. To provide for the poor, the overseers can lay a tax.

The term of office is one year and the number of overseers two. Their compensation, which is trifling, is paid out of the poor fund.

The Township Clerk.-This is an office that is not always filled, for its duties have become few. When elected at all, the township clerk keeps the accounts and records of the supervisors. If any stray animals are found in the township and reported to him, he makes a record of them as to color and marks.

His term of office is one year and his salary is fixed by the supervisors. He is also entitled to fees on entries of strays and for showing the township records to such as may wish to consult or inspect them.

The Auditors.-The accounts of the school board, of the supervisors, of overseers of the poor, and of other township officers handling public money, must be examined every year by the auditors. Their report must be filed with the township clerk; if no such officer exists, with the auditor having been in office longest. A copy of it must also be filed with the court and printed copies (at least five) must be posted in conspicuous places around the township. The duty of the auditors is not merely clerical; they have the right to disapprove of expenditures. In case they do, the official who made the expenditure, must reund it to the township, or appeal to the court.

Duties not naturally belonging to this office are fence

viewing and appraising of sheep when killed by dogs. In the case of a quarrel about building line fences, the auditors shall decide whether the old one will do; and if not, what proportion of the expense of repairing it or of building a new one, shall be borne by each party.

The number of auditors is three, one of whom is elected annually; their term of office is three years. Their compensation is $2.00 a day when they are actually in service.

Election Officers.-As it is important that elections should be conducted honestly, certain safeguards must be thrown around the polls. For this purpose the election officers are chosen. Before opening the election, they must take an oath, the judge of election taking a different oath from that which the two inspectors take. One of the inspectors has charge of the registry of voters, in which he makes an entry of those who vote; the other receives and numbers the ballots. Both the judges and the inspectors have power to administer the oath to any that may have to be sworn before voting.

After the polls are closed the returns are made up by the election officers and sent to the proper officials, those of the National, State, county and city elections, to the prothonotary; and those of the township, to the clerk of the courts. Judges within twelve miles of the county seat by wagon road or twenty-four miles by railroad, shall have their returns in before 2 o'clock P. M. the day after the election ; and all others, before 12 M. the second day after.

Election officers are elected for each voting precinct in a township. If the township has two or more voting precincts, there are two or more sets of election officers in it. The judge belongs to the party in the majority; but the

two inspectors should belong one to each of the two leading parties. The term of office is one year. The compensation is $3.50 for an election; it is paid out of the county treasury.

THE BOROUGH.

The Borough. Whenever a village has a population so large that it needs separate schools, lighted streets, improved sidewalks, etc., it may set up a government of its own; for the township has no power to grant these things to a village, nor would it be inclined to grant them if it could. A town that has a government of its own is a borough. To organize itself into one, a village must petition the court through a majority of its voters, and give notice thereof in one newspaper of the county for at least thirty days. If the judge approves the petition, the borough is formed.

The Chief Burgess.-The executive power of the government of a borough is vested in the chief burgess. He enforces the ordinances of the town council. He is ex officio a justice of the peace and as such keeps order and peace. Like all executives, he must sign the laws, passed by the council, or veto them. His veto can be over-ruled by a two-thirds vote of the council. The foregoing are his duties as prescribed by the present State Constitution. In boroughs organized prior to 1874, the nature of his office, as well as that of other features of borough government, is somewhat different.

The burgess is chosen for three years and he cannot succeed himself. In some places he gets a small salary. If a vacancy occurs in this office, the court of quarter sessions, upon petition of the town council or any citizen of the borough, shall appoint a person to fill it.

The Council. The council is the law-making power of the borough. Its laws are called ordinances. They relate (a) to the streets-their opening and improvement, their lighting and cleaning; (b) to the protection of life and property-the police service and the fire service; (c) to the public health-the sewering, the abatement of nuisances, and the quarantine of infectious and contagious diseases; (d) to public conveniences-water works, light plants and cemeteries; (e) and to other matters in which the public is interested.

The council can sue and be sued. It can borrow money and fix the rate of interest. All bills are examined by it before it draws an order on the treasury for them. It employs a clerk, who keeps its records and signs and publishes its ordinances and resolutions; a treasurer, who receives the tax laid by it, all fines, licenses, and penalties, and pays its orders; and an engineer, who makes the surveys necessary in grading streets, sidewalks, etc.

In boroughs without wards, the number of councilmen shall be seven and their term three years, not all, however, being elected the same year. In larger boroughs, which are divided into wards (an act done by the court upon petition of the majority of the voters), each ward elects from one to three members of the council. A councilman serves without pay.

Other Officers.-A borough has no supervisors, the council attending to the streets. When it is divided into wards, the court may grant it authority to elect from one to three school directors from each ward. Otherwise the borough officers are about the same as those of the township.

THE CITY.

The City.-A borough of 10,000 or more inhabitants can become a city, if a majority of its voters so decide. When a town reaches that population, it needs a government of more enlarged powers than a borough has. In fact, the government of a large city is more complex than that of a State, just as life itself is more complex in the town than it is in the country.

In a city, people are brought together in such great numbers that a form of local government different from any other is required—a form that is more complex and has more extended powers. What the best plan for the government of cities is, has become a great problem. In Pennsylvania, and in some other States in the Union, all the powers and privileges that a city has are expressed in a charter granted by the State. This charter is a sort of constitution, which is, however, not adopted by the people of the city, but given to it by the people of the whole State. It can be amended only by the State Leg

islature.

There are three classes of cities,-those of the first class must have a population of 1,000,000 or more; those of the second, 100,000 to 1,000,000; and those of the third, 10,000 to 100,000. This division is made for convenience of legislation-what would be good law for the larger cities might be poor law for the smaller ones. By virtue of this classification, laws may be passed for one class without interfering with the other classes.

The Mayor. The chief executive officer of a city is the mayor. His general duties are the same as those of a burgess, but he has special duties not required of a burgess, owing to the greater complexity of the city government. He must prepare annually a message for councils,