XXV  LOCAL  AND  SECTIONAL  GOVERNMENT  491

been  greatly  altered  by  the  introduction  of  railways — and
other  changes  in  the  arts  of  industry,  rendering  scientific
knowledge  and  systematic  management  more  important  than
before  in  one  or  other  branch  of  governmental  action.
As  regards  the  size  of  governmental  areas,  it  may  be
noted  that  the  smaller  any  such  area  is,  the  greater  will
generally  be  the  educative  effect  of  the  control  of  its  inhabit-
ants over  their  government ;  ^  especially  if  the  divisions  are
naturally  so  that  an  effective  esprit  de  corps  tends  to  exist
within  each  group  of  persons  thus  divided  off.  At  the  same
time,  the  more  important  the  work  that  is  assigned  to  the
independent  activity  of  local  authorities,  the  more  necessary
it  is  that  the  area  should  be  large  enough  to  furnish  an  ade-
quate supply  of  persons  competent  to  direct  and  criticise
this  activity :  also,  districts  should  be  sufficiently  large  to  bear
any  ordinary  burden  of  varying  expenditure  without  excessive
strain.  Moreover,  by  increasing  the  area  we  diminish  the
danger  of  the  predominance  of  the  sinister  interests  of  any
one  individual  or  class ;  thus  a  rural  district  that  has
important  independent  powers  should  be,  if  possible,  large
enough  not  to  present  the  dilemma  of  either  giving  over-
whelming influence  to  a  single  large  landowner,  or  rendering
him  a  too  easy  victim  of  democratic  oppression.
