The county superintendent of highways has charge of the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges from county funds; visits and inspects roads and bridges in each town or road district, and advises and directs the highway commissioners; and supervises the repair and maintenance of state aid roads.

The State Department of Public Works and Buildings, acting through the Superintendent of Highways, has general supervision and control of the construction of state aid roads.

Expenditures on public highways have increased rapidly, especially in recent years. The local road and bridge taxes have risen from $1,259,851 in 1879 to $9,646,000 in 1917; and in addition large sums have been expended on roads and bridges from county taxes and bond issues, and from the state road funds. A $60,000,000 state bond issue for a general system of state roads has been authorized.

Justices and constables. Justices of the peace and constables are elected by towns and election precincts throughout the state, except in the city of Chicago. In Chicago, there is a municipal court; in 27 other cities there are city courts with elected judges;1 and in many other cities and villages there are elected police magistrates.

Justices of the peace are commissioned by the governor. They have both civil and criminal jurisdiction within their respective counties in an enumerated and limited list of cases under state laws, and in cases under municipal ordinances. Under the criminal code, they are conservators of the peace; and on complaint they may issue warrants for arrest in any criminal case, conduct preliminary examinations of accused persons, and release them on bail or commit for trial. They are also authorized to celebrate marriages. In counties under township organization, they are members of the board of town auditors; and in counties not under township organization a justice of the peace in each precinct may be designated by the county board as overseer of the poor. Constables are peace officers, with power to arrest any one committing crime ir their presence. But to a large extent they act as the ministerial agents of the justices, serving warrants of arrest and subpoenas on witnesses, and execute judgments.

There are no public records or effective supervision over justices of the peace and police magistrates; and under the fee system which prevails there is room for mismanagement.

Criticism of the justices of the peace in Chicago led to the adoption of the provision in the constitutional amendment of 1904 authorizing their abolition; and this was done when the municipal court of Chicago was established. But in other cities and villages with city courts or police magistrates, the justices of the peace and constables must also be continued. The constitutional provisions might be modified so that the work of the justices of the peace and constables could

1 The city courts have the same jurisdiction as circuit courts, and do not replace the justices of the peace.

be combined with that of other local courts and the police, and the provision requiring their election be eliminated.2

School administration. Public school administration is more systematically organized than any other branch of public administration. But the present arrangements are highly complex, involving state, county, township, school district and high school district officials. Local administration is primarily based on the petty school district, each of which outside of cities and some villages has a single school; but the district officials are subject to township, county and state offi

cers.

There are three main classes of local school districts. In each school district with less than 1,000 inhabitants, there is a board of directors of three members, one of whom is elected annually on the third Tuesday in April, for a term of three years. In school districts having a population of not less than 1,000 and not more than 100,000, there is a board of education consisting of a president elected annually, and a minimum of six members, one-third elected each year for terms of three years. Three members are added for each additional 10,000 population, up to a maximum of fifteen members. In cities with a population of over 100,000 (Chicago) the board of education consists of 11 members, appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council. In a number of cities, local school boards are still organized under special acts passed before 1870.

Local school districts are usually parts of school townships; but in a good many cases school districts cross township and sometimes county lines. In many cases school districts correspond more or less closely in area to cities and villages; but the boundaries of the school district and city or village do not necessarily correspond; and very frequently school districts include considerable territory outside of the city or village; while in other cases cities and villages of considerable population are in two or more school districts.

In any case the school district and the school board are governing bodies distinct from the city or village corporation.

In 1918 there were 11,899 local school districts in Illinois. Of these 11,252 were small school districts governed by boards of school directors, 619 districts had boards of education (including high school districts), and 28 were under special charters.

In addition to the usual local school districts, several hundred of which (mainly city districts) maintain public high schools, there has been a further development, under recent legislation of special high school districts for the maintenance of high schools. Under an act of 1905 authorizing any school township to establish a township high school, about 100 such high schools were established. In order to extend the opportunities for high schools, an act was passed in 1911 to authorize the organization of high school districts composed either of a school township containing a school district with a population of

2 See Bulletin No. 10, on the Judicial Department.

1,000 or any contiguous and compact territory in the same or different townships, upon petition and a local vote in the proposed district. Under this act, nearly 200 districts were formed; and the school report for 1916 showed 166 township high school boards in operation. At the October 1916, term of the Supreme Court, this act was held unconstitutional (as special legislation based on an improper classification), as was also an act of 1915 providing for the payment from the state school fund of high school tuition for pupils from districts with no high schools.

An act of 1917 validated the organization of high school districts under the earlier acts; and another act of the same year, framed to meet the the objections of the Supreme Court, made further provisions for the formation of community high school districts, and also for the formation for the formation of non-high school districts comprising the part of each county not included in school districts maintaining high schools. There are irregular variations in the composition of the boards of education provided under these different provisions. For districts organized under the previous acts, the high school board consists of a president and six members elected for three year terms; for the new community high school districts, the boards consist of only five members; and for the non-high school district of three members, one to be elected each year, with the county superintendent as a member and secretary without vote, this board to levy taxes and pay expenses for high school tuition for pupils from the non-high school district. In 1918 there were 176 township high schools. and 2 community high schools.

Each congressional township is established as a school township in each of which there are elected annually three school trustees. The school trustees establish and change the boundaries of school districts, appropriate and distribute to the school districts the income of township school funds and the state school fund, and elect a township treasurer. In school townships whose boundaries coincide with the boundaries of civil towns, the school trustees are elected at the same time as other town officers; but in the many cases where the school and civil townships are not coterminous, the election for school trustees is held on the second Saturday in April.

The adoption of the township in place of the small school district as the primary unit of local school administration was urged by the Education Commission of 1911, as a means of increased economy and efficiency in the public school system. If this were done the school township, with one school authority, could take the place of a number of districts with separate boards of school trustees and school district directors and, in many places, an additional high school board of education. School funds could be more economically managed by the county authorities for all the school townships in each county.

Drainage districts. The drainage laws of Illinois present a highly complex and confusing body of legislation. The constitution of 1870 contained a provision (article IV, section 31) that:

"The general assembly may pass laws permitting the owners or occupants of lands, to construct drains and ditches for agricultural and sanitary purposes across the lands of others."

In 1871 an act was passed "to provide for the construction and protection of drains, ditches, levees and other works." But some years later, it was held that section 9 of article IX, authorizing special assessments and special taxation for local improvements, limited the use of these methods to cities, towns and villages, and that special assessments could not be used for drainage works by other local authorities.3

This decision led to the adoption of a constitutional amendment in 1878, adding to section 31 of article IV, the following:

"and provide for the organization of drainage districts and vest the corporate authorities thereof with power to construct and maintain levees, drains and ditches, and to keep in repair all drains, ditches and levees heretofore constructed under the laws of this state, by special assessments upon the property benefited thereby."

Following the adoption of this amendment, another drainage law was passed, in 1879, repealing the law of 1871. In 1883 an act relating to county ditches and drains was passed. In 1885, an act was passed authorizing cities and villages to construct drains, etc., by special assessment, and another to provide for drainage for agricultural and sanitary purposes. A number of acts have also been passed for the creation of sanitary districts. These laws have been frequently amended, and also supplemented by other legislation.

Under the act of 1879, drainage districts may be formed on petition and proceedings in the county court; and when any petition is approved, the court appoints three commissioners for terms of three years, to lay out and construct the proposed works, subject to further proceedings before the court on the report and assessment roll prepared by the commissioners.

Under the act of 1885, the town highway commissioners are constituted drainage commissioners for all drainage districts in their respective towns; and provision is made for the organization of drainage districts on petition and proceedings before such drainage commissioners, with district commissioners to be elected, (for three-year terms), by the adult owners of land in the district. In connection with special assessments, appeals may be taken to the county court. Provision is also made for sub-districts, river districts, districts by user, and districts by mutual agreement; and also for establishing special drainage districts, lying in several towns or counties, on proceedings before the county courts.

These two laws appear to have been prepared primarily with reference to drainage for agricultural purposes, though sanitary purposes are also included. The laws relating to sanitary districts have had in view primarily the problem of sewage disposal for urban communities, although also including other objects. An act of 1887 provided for organizing the city of Chicago into a drainage district; but the sanitary district of Chicago was organized under an act of 1889 general in form, providing for sanitary districts. Another act, of 1907,

3 Updike v. Wright, 81 Ill. 49 (1876).

to create sanitary districts in certain localities, was designed for the region including East St. Louis, where the East Side Levee district has been organized. The act of 1917 to create sanitary districts and to provide for sewage disposal had in view the problems of Decatur and Bloomington; but is also adapted to other localities. All of these acts provide for the creation of special districts on petition and a local popular vote; and have been used for the formation of districts including one or more urban municipalities and surrounding territory. The acts of 1889 and 1907 provide for the popular election of trustees; that of 1917 provides for the appointment of trustees by the county judge.

The laws relating to drainage and sanitary districts make no provision for any report to any state officer of the formation of such districts; and no official records are available in any state office of the districts formed or in operation. The county records should show the formation of sanitary districts, and of drainage districts organized under the act of 1879; but many of the districts formed under the act of 1885 are established by proceedings before town officers; and the only record provided for is that of the town officers. As a result, there is no complete list of such districts.

An investigation by the Rivers and Lakes Commission in 1911 disclosed the existence of 782 drainage districts in the state. But this may not have been complete; and in any case does not indicate the total number of districts now in existence. Districts were reported in 81 counties in all parts of the state, the largest number in one county being 48 in Champaign county. The aggregate area of these districts was about 12,000 square miles, or a little more than a fifth of the total area in the state.

Next to the Sanitary District of Chicago, the largest drainage district reported was the Lower Salt Fork Drainage District in Champaign County, with an area of 168,000 acres and 23 miles of ditch. The Sny Island Levee and Drainage District in Adams, Pike and Calhoun counties had an area of 110,000 acres and 55 miles of levee. The East Side Levee and Drainage District (organized under the act of 1907), in St. Clair and Madison counties had 55,000 acres, 30 miles of levee and 20 miles of canal.*

Serious complaints have been made of the confused state of the drainage laws, and the numerous drainage districts, mostly dealing with small disconnected areas and often with antagonistic authorities in the same watershed. The Rivers and Lakes Commission urged the need for comprehensive plans for entire watercourses, so as to secure better flood control and more effective regulation."

Cities and villages. Incorporated towns and cities were first organized under special acts of the General Assembly. A general law for the incorporation of towns was passed in 1831, under which many

Randolph, Robert Isham: Land Drainage in Illinois, Rivers and Lakes Commission, Bulletin No. 4. April 1, 1912.

Rivers and Lakes Commission, Annual Report for 1916, p. 16.