ABSTRACT
There are extreme variations in the quality of small-community government in the United States. The local management of community affairs is the greatest of all schools of government and of life. Several committees of the community council can advise the council on various phases of public government. There may well be a committee on public finance, on community recreation, on public health, on education, and on general community administration, with special committees as the need may occur. Rural and small-community government has made relatively little headway in the United States. Most small communities are made up of residents of a central village or town, and also of a surrounding tributary area, generally extending beyond the town limits for from two to five miles. One of the most important developments of American democracy has been the city-manager or town-manager government.
