《论美国的民主·卷一·第五章·新英格兰的乡镇自治》第5节
The selectmen are elected every year in the month of April or of May. The town-meeting chooses at the same time a number of other municipal magistrates, who are entrusted with important administrative functions. The assessors rate the township; the collectors receive the rate. A constable is appointed to keep the peace, to watch the streets, and to forward the execution of the laws; the town-clerk records all the town votes, orders, grants, births, deaths, and marriages; the treasurer keeps the funds; the overseer of the poor performs the difficult task of superintending the action of the poor-laws; committee-men are appointed to attend to the schools and to public instruction; and the road-surveyors, who take care of the greater and lesser thoroughfares of the township, complete the list of the principal functionaries. They are, however, still further subdivided; and amongst the municipal officers are to be found parish commissioners, who audit the expenses of public worship; different classes of inspectors, some of whom are to direct the citizens in case of fire; tithing-men, listers, haywards, chimney-viewers, fence-viewers to maintain the bounds of property, timber-measurers, and sealers of weights and measures. There are nineteen principal officers in a township. Every inhabitant is constrained, on the pain of being fined, to undertake these different functions; which, however, are almost all paid, in order that the poorer citizens may be able to give up their time without loss. In general the American system is not to grant a fixed salary to its functionaries. Every service has its price, and they are remunerated in proportion to what they have done. Existence Of The Township
注释摘要
这段文字是托克维尔对新英格兰乡镇行政分权最详尽的实景白描，他要论证的命题其实很简单：乡镇自治不是一句抽象的口号，而是靠一套极度细化的官职体系落实下来的。他列举自选委员、估税员、收税员、治安官、镇书记、司库、济贫监督、学校委员、道路巡视员，继而进一步细分出教区监事、各种检查员乃至干草看守、烟囱检查员、篱笆巡视员、木材测量员和计量封印官，一共列出十九种主要官职…