Thus, a road may be needed between two centers of population, villages or cities, which would run through several towns, while the jurisdiction of the towns individually extends only to their own borders.
Or a bridge over a wide stream may be needed, which would be too expensive for the town in which it is located.

The road and the bridge would better be provided by the county.[Footnote: Sometimes state aid is secured.

Do you think it wise, as a rule, for the state to grant such aid ?] And the poor can generally be better cared for by the county than by the individual towns, for the county can erect and maintain a poor-house.
4.

_To secure certain local officers not needed in every town;_ for instance, a register of deeds, the coroner, the judge of probate, the superintendent of schools (in most states), and the surveyor.
5.

_To serve as a territorial basis for the apportionment of members of the legislature._ This is, perhaps, merely an incidental gain.