ASPECTS OF THE MISSOURI FISCAL PROBLEM 323
opposition, however, from several sources. Residents
naturally become attached to county names. Mercantile
interests in the county seats that would be affected would no
doubt oppose strenuously any movement toward consolidations,
 as would officeholders and those with political aspirations.
 These and other factors militate against the possibility
 of reducing the number of counties.
That desirable results can be obtained through county
consolidation has been demonstrated. James County,
Tennessee, was a small county adjoining Hamilton County,
in which the City of Chattanooga is located. As a result of
legislative action, a referendum vote was taken in James
County only, and the consolidation proposal was carried
by a ten to one vote.! Before the consolidation the prevailing
school term in James County was three and four months.
After the consolidation the term was increased to eight and
nine months, and the building formerly used as a court house
for James County is now used as a public school building
for a large area. There has been a more rapid improvement
of roads in the territory that formerly comprised James
County. Although governmental functions on the whole are
more adequately financed, the writer of the article cited
states: “The last report I have seen states that the people
who formerly lived in James County now, as citizens of
Hamilton County, pay only about one half the taxes which
were formerly necessary.” In certain rural sections the reduction
 was even greater.
The consolidated school movement in Missouri has produced
 desirable results, and there seems little doubt that
equally effective results might be obtained from county consolidations,
 particularly in "those sections of the state in
which the population of certain counties is so small that the
per capita cost of even reasonably satisfactory governmental
services is very high. A well-planned county consolidation
program might show that sixty or even fewer counties would
be capable of providing much better governmental facilities
and services at a lower cost than are now provided by almost
twice that number.

1 The facts concerning this consolidation are adapted from an article by Walter
Burr, of the University of Missouri, in the National Farm Journal, Jctober, 1930.