Section 1. the Office of Coroner in the City of New York Shall Be

abolished on January first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, and after this section takes effect, a vacancy occurring in such an office in any borough shall not be filled unless by reason of the occurrence thereof, there shall be no coroner in office in such borough, in which case the vacancy in such borough last occurring shall be filled for a term to expire on January first, nineteen hundred and eighteen. If, by reason of the provisions of this section, the number of coroners in a borough be reduced, the remaining coroner or coroners in such borough shall have the powers and perform the duties conferred or imposed by law on the board of coroners in such borough.

§ 2. Title four of chapter twenty-three, sections fifteen hundred and seventy and fifteen hundred and seventy-one of the Greater New York charter, as re-enacted by chapter four hundred and sixty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred and one, is hereby repealed, and in its place is inserted a new title to be numbered four and to read as follows:

TITLE IV

CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER

Section 1570. Organization of office; officers and employees. 1571. Violent and suspicious deaths; procedure. 1571-a. Autopsies; findings. 1571-b. Report of deaths; removal of body. 1571-c. Records. 1571-d. Oaths and affidavits.

ORGANIZATION OF OFFICE; OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES

§ 1570. There is hereby established the office of chief medical examiner of the city of New York. The head of the office shall be called the “chief medical examiner.” He shall be appointed by the mayor from the classified service and be a doctor of medicine, and a skilled pathologist and microscopist.

The mayor may remove such officer upon stating in writing his reasons therefor, to be filed in the office of the municipal civil service commission and served upon such officer, and allowing him an opportunity of making a public explanation. The chief medical examiner may appoint and remove such deputies, assistant medical examiners, scientific experts, officers and employees as may be provided for pursuant to law. Such deputy medical examiners, and assistant medical examiners, as may be appointed, shall possess qualifications similar to those required in the appointment of the chief medical examiner. The office shall be kept open every day in the year, including Sundays and legal holidays, with a clerk in constant attendance at all times during the day and night.

VIOLENT AND SUSPICIOUS DEATHS; PROCEDURE

§ 1571. When, in the city of New York, any person shall die from criminal violence, or by a casualty, or by suicide, or suddenly when in apparent health, or when unattended by a physician, or in prison, or in any suspicious or unusual manner, the officer in charge of the station house in the police precinct in which such person died shall immediately notify the office of the chief medical examiner of the known facts concerning the time, place, manner and circumstances of such death. Immediately upon receipt of such notification the chief medical examiner, or a deputy or assistant medical examiner, shall go to the dead body, and take charge of the same. Such examiner shall fully investigate the essential facts concerning the circumstances of the death, taking the names and addresses of as many witnesses thereto as it may be practical to obtain, and, before leaving the premises, shall reduce all such facts to writing and file the same in his office. The police officer so detailed shall, in the absence of the next of kin of deceased person, take possession of all property of value found on such person, make an exact inventory thereof on his report, and deliver such property to the police department, which shall surrender the same to the person entitled to its custody or possession. Such examiner shall take possession of any portable objects which, in his opinion, may be useful in establishing the cause of death, and deliver them to the police department.

Nothing in this section contained shall affect the powers and duties of a public administrator as now provided by law.

AUTOPSIES; FINDINGS

§ 1571-a. If the cause of such death shall be established beyond a reasonable doubt, the medical examiner in charge shall so report to his office. If, however, in the opinion of such medical examiner, an autopsy is necessary, the same shall be performed by a medical examiner. A detailed description of the findings written during the progress of such autopsy and the conclusions drawn therefrom shall thereupon be filed in his office.

REPORT OF DEATHS; REMOVAL OF BODY

§ 1571-b. It shall be the duty of any citizen who may become aware of the death of any such person to report such death forthwith to the office of the chief medical examiner, and to a police officer who shall forthwith notify the officer in charge of the station-house in the police precinct in which such person died. Any person who shall willfully neglect or refuse to report such death or who without written order from a medical examiner shall willfully touch, remove or disturb the body of any such person, or willfully touch, remove, or disturb the clothing, or any article upon or near such body, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

RECORDS

§ 1571-c. It shall be the duty of the office of medical examiner to keep full and complete records. Such records shall be kept in the office, properly indexed, stating the name, if known, of every such person, the place where the body was found and the date of death. To the record of each case shall be attached the original report of the medical examiner and the detailed findings of the autopsy, if any. The office shall promptly deliver to the appropriate district attorney copies of all records relating to every death as to which there is, in the judgment of the medical examiner in charge, any indication of criminality. All other records shall be open to public inspection as provided in section fifteen hundred and forty-five. The appropriate district attorney and the police commissioner of the city may require from such officer such further records, and such daily information, as they may deem necessary.

OATHS AND AFFIDAVITS

§ 1571-d. The chief medical examiner, and all deputy or assistant medical examiners, may administer oaths, and take affidavits, proofs and examinations as to any matter within the jurisdiction of the office.

§ 3. Section eleven hundred and seventy-nine of such charter is hereby amended to read as follows:

BUREAUS

§ 1179. There shall be two bureaus in the department of health. The chief officer of one bureau shall be called the “sanitary superintendent,” who, at the time of his appointment, shall have been, for at least ten years, a practicing physician, and for three years a resident of the city of New York, and he shall be the chief executive officer of said department. The chief officer of the second bureau shall be called the “registrar of records,” and in said bureau shall be recorded, without fees, every birth, marriage, and death, which shall occur within the city of New York.

§ 4. Section twelve hundred and three of such charter is hereby amended to read as follows:

MEDICAL EXAMINERS’ RETURNS

§ 1203. The department of health may, from time to time make rules and regulations fixing the time of rendering, and defining the form of returns and reports to be made to said department by the office of chief medical examiner of the city of New York, in all cases of death which shall be investigated by it; and the office of the chief medical examiner is hereby required to conform to such rules and regulations.

§ 5. Section twelve hundred and thirty-eight of such charter is hereby amended to read as follows:

DEATHS TO BE REPORTED

§ 1238. It shall be the duty of the next of kin of any person deceased, and of each person being with such deceased person at his or her death, to file report in writing, with the department of health within five days after such death, stating the age, color, nativity, last occupation and cause of death of such deceased person, and the borough and street, the place of such person’s death and last residence. Physicians who have attended deceased persons in their last illness shall, in the certificate of the decease of such persons, specify, as near as the same can be ascertained, the name and surname, age, occupation, term of residence in said city, place of nativity, condition of life; whether single or married, widow or widower; color, last place of residence and the cause of death of such deceased persons, and the medical examiners of the city, shall, in their certificates conform to the requirements of this section.

§ 6. Such charter is hereby amended by inserting therein a new section, to be numbered section fifteen hundred and eighty-five-a, and to read as follows:

COUNTY CLERKS TO EXERCISE CERTAIN STATUTORY POWERS AND DUTIES OF CORONERS

§ 1585-a. In the city of New York the powers imposed and the duties conferred upon coroners by the provisions of title three of chapter two of the code of civil procedure shall be exercised and performed by the county clerk of the appropriate county, and said county clerk shall, in the exercise and performance thereof, be subject to the same liabilities and responsibilities as are prescribed in such title in the case of coroners.

§ 7. Sections seventeen hundred and sixty-six to seventeen hundred and seventy-nine, both inclusive, of chapter four hundred and ten of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled “An act to consolidate into one act and to declare the special and local laws affecting public interests in the city of New York,” and all acts amending such sections, are hereby repealed.

§ 8. The officers and employees now exercising the powers and duties which by this act are abolished, or are conferred or imposed upon the office of chief medical examiner, including coroner’s physicians, shall be transferred to the office of chief medical examiner. Service in the office, board or body from which transferred shall count for all purposes as service in the office of the chief medical examiner.

§ 9. All funds, property, records, books, papers and documents within the jurisdiction or control of any such coroner, or such board of coroners, shall, on demand, be transferred and delivered to the office of the chief medical examiner. The board of estimate and apportionment shall transfer to the office of the chief medical examiner all unexpended appropriations made by the city to enable any coroner, or board of coroners, to exercise any of the powers and duties which by this act are abolished or are conferred or imposed upon such office of chief medical examiner.

APPENDIX F

A COUNTY ALMSHOUSE IN TEXAS

BY DR. THOMAS W. SALMON

This particular Poor Farm is in one of the richest counties of the state. The taxable property of that county is assessed at more than $45,000,000. It contains no large cities (the largest has a population of 15,000), all but two per cent. of the people are native-born and the proportion of negroes is much less than in the state as a whole. It would be difficult indeed to find in this wide land a county more prosperous, more pleasant to live in or more truly American than this one.

Four miles west of the county-seat is the Poor Farm. There is a substantial brick building for the poor and infirm which is heated by steam and lighted by acetylene gas. Scattered around the main building are some small wooden cabins, cheap in construction and not in very good repair, but, on the whole, comfortable for the old people, the paralytics and the epileptics who live in them. If we could leave this Poor Farm, having seen so much and no more, we could think of it again only with feelings of pleasure that the county’s unfortunates were provided for so comfortably; but standing alone is an old brick building in which the insane are kept and this must be visited too. It is a gloomy place, coming out of the bright October sun, but when your eyes become accustomed to the shadows, you see what this county has provided for the insane who are neglected by the great mother state. You see that there is a clear space running around three sides of the one large room which forms the entire interior of the building. In the center and across the rear end of this room are fourteen iron cages--four extending across the rear and ten back to back, down the center. They are made of iron bars, the tops, backs and adjoining sides being sheet metal. Near the top of each solid side, are seven rows of holes about an inch in diameter. Their purpose is ventilation but they serve also to destroy what poor privacy these cages might otherwise possess. Each cage contains a prison cot or two swinging from the wall while a few have cots upon the floor.

In these cages, which are too far from the windows in the brick walls for the sunlight to enter except during the short period each day when it shines directly opposite them, abandoned to filth and unbelievable misery lie the insane poor of this pleasant, fertile, prosperous American county. Color, age and sex have no significance in this place. All of those distinctions which govern the lives of human beings elsewhere are merged in common degradation here.

Men and women, black and white, old and young, share its horrors just alike. They are insane and that fact alone wipes out every other consideration and every obligation except that of keeping, with food and shelter, the spark of life alight. When, at dusk, the shadows deepen, the creatures in this place of wretchedness cower closer in the corners of their cages for there are no cheerful lights here as in the other buildings and when the darkness blots out everything there are only the moans of distressed human beings to tell you it is not a tomb. Through the night, when persons with bodily illnesses are attended by quietly treading nurses in the two fine hospitals which the nearby town supports, these unfortunate men and women, who are sick in mind as well as in body, drag through terrors which no human community would wish to have its worst criminals experience.

Each day brings to the poor creatures here light and food--as it does to the cattle in the sheds--but it does not bring to them the slightest hope of intelligent care, nor, to most of them, even the narrow liberty of the iron-fenced yard. One attendant, a cheerful young man, is employed by the county to look after the forty-odd inmates who at the least compose the Poor Farm population. He used to be a trolley car conductor but now he receives forty dollars a month for attending to the inmates, male and female, who cannot care for themselves. He brings back the feeble-minded when they wander off, he finds epileptics when they fall in their attacks and he sees that all are fed. He is called the “yard-man”; his duties are those of a herdsman for human beings. His predecessor, a man of about sixty years of age, is serving a term in the state penitentiary for an attack upon a little girl who was an inmate of this Poor Farm. At his trial it was brought out that he had served a previous term in another state for a similar offense.

The present “yard-man” has not the slightest knowledge of any other kind of treatment for the insane, nor has he had the slightest experience in practical nursing or in caring for the mentally or physically helpless. He has been employed here about a year. He found the insane in these cages and he knows of no other way of keeping them. All but three or four of them remain in their cages all day, crouching on the stone floors instead of on the green grass outside. A feeble white woman in bed, wasted and pale, who apparently has but a few months to live, was pointed out in one of the cages and the “yard-man” was asked if she would run away if she were permitted to have her bed outside. He admitted that it was not likely but said that she was weak and would fall out of bed. He was asked if it would be worse to fall out of bed on the grass or on the wooden floor of the main building than on the stone floor of her cage, but these matters were far outside his experience and he had no reply to make.

How much more knowledge and experience would have been required of this young man if the county had seen fit to maintain a menagerie! No one would think of entrusting the animals to one so wholly inexperienced in their care. This young man might be employed as an assistant, but he would never be placed in charge of an animal house full of valuable specimens.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that the wretched people who are confined in these cages were selected from a larger number of insane inmates of the Poor Farm on account of exceptional intractability or because their brains have been so dulled by the final stages of dementia that they are no longer conscious of their surroundings. These people are not a few selected for such reasons; they constitute all but one of the avowedly insane who are housed in this Poor Farm. They include persons as appreciative as you or I would be of the loathesomeness of their surroundings and of the personal humiliation of being confined in such a place. In one cage is a man who has delusions which doubtless make it unsafe for him to have his liberty in the community. He has not been allowed outside his cage for a single hour in three years.

This place was built twenty years ago. Perhaps the brain which planned it is now dust, nevertheless its ignorant conception of the nature of mental disease still determines the kind of care this county affords the most unfortunate of all its helpless sick. Perhaps, too, the hands which laid these bricks and forged these iron bars are now dead, nevertheless they still stretch out of the past and crush the living in their cruel grasp. The conception of mental diseases which gave to this county this dreadful place did not even reflect the enlightenment of its own period. Eighty years earlier Esquirol had stirred the pity of France by a recital of miseries no worse than those which you can see in this county to-day. Many years before this place was built, Conolly had aroused public opinion in England to such an extent that it was possible for cages such as these to exist in only the darkest corners of the land. Thirty years before this grim structure arose from the fair soil of Texas, Dorothea Dix was showing the inhumanity of almshouse care of the insane in this country and members of our legislatures were profoundly stirred by her descriptions of conditions less abhorrent than those which exist to-day in the Poor Farm which I have just described. Great reforms in the care of the insane have extended over the entire country ever since these walls were built but they have left this place untouched and it stands to-day, not a pathetic but disused reminder of the ignorance and inhumanity of another age and of another kind of civilization, but an actual, living reality reproducing, with scarcely a detail lacking, conditions which were described in pitying terms by the writers of four centuries ago.

Standing in the doorway of this building you can see evidences of the material greatness of the twentieth century; taking a single step inside you can see exactly what the superstition, fear and ignorance of the sixteenth century imposed upon the insane.

THE INSANE IN COUNTY JAILS

The sufferings of the insane in the county Poor Farms would so stir the compassion of the humane people of this state, could they but walk among these fellow-citizens of theirs and witness the misery to which they have been abandoned, that almshouse care would not survive the next session of the legislature. Take away, however, the meager attention given in the Poor Farms by those who, while they know nothing of mental diseases or of how to care for them, are moved by kindly impulses and recognize that the insane are sent to them for care and not for punishment; take away this and substitute the harsh discipline of the prison which is designed, by its painful memories, to restrain evildoers from crime. Then some picture can be formed of the lot of these poor sick people in county jails. Almost without exception, they have committed no crime, unless it be a crime to suffer from mental illness, but they share the lot of criminals and in many cases through the fears of their jailers they are denied even the small liberties allowed the criminals. Men and women, white people and negroes, those scarcely out of childhood and those filled with the pains and infirmities of age, those with types of mental disease which would yield readily to even the simplest treatment and those doomed to mental darkness all their days, I have seen them in the cells of the county jails of Texas and learned their needs and witnessed their sufferings at first hand. I can only say that I have never witnessed such depths of misery as those in which these unfortunate people drag out the months and years. Death releases some--the more fortunate--but the others continue to exist in filthy cells without that hope of release after a definite period, which cheers the criminals whose lot they share. The rigors of the jail are intended to impress evildoers with the terrors of the law but with few exceptions the prisoners in county jails are young men, most of them in sturdy health. It is needless to point out how much more severe punishment confinement in such places is to the unfortunate insane, broken in health, many of them acutely conscious of the terrible wrong which their state is inflicting upon them and the prey to delusional and hallucinatory terrors, as well as to those which depend upon actuality.

In not a few instances I found the insane in solitary confinement, simply on account of their mental disease, while the criminals enjoyed the companionship of their fellows. Every convention of life is swept away when these unfortunate people enter the jails. Women are bathed by men in the presence of male prisoners, persons with elusions of sin and impending punishment lie in cells which face the gallows, the weak and helpless are not even protected from physical violence, and, in most cases, there is not the slightest semblance of personal care or nursing. The jailers feel that they have discharged their full duty if the insane are prevented from escaping. Persons convicted of serious crimes enter the jails, serve their sentences and regain their liberty while the insane, who have led upright lives and have contributed by their honest toil to the prosperity of their state, lie in their cells without hope of release. A pathetic fact is that the counties pay the sheriffs more just for feeding the poor people than their care would cost in the state hospitals for the insane. It is needless to dwell further on the inhumanity and the injustice of confining the insane in the county jails. It constitutes a blot upon the honor of the state which every citizen would demand erased were the actual facts widely known.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

THE COUNTY GENERALLY

Books and Collections of Papers

American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia, “County Government....” (Its Annals, v. 47, whole No. 136.) May, 1913. 326 pp.

FAIRLIE, JOHN A., Local Government in Counties, Towns and Villages. New York, The Century Co., 1906. 289 pp. (The American State series) Bibliography.

The New York short ballot organization: Proceedings of the First Conference for better County Government. Schenectady, N. Y., Nov. 13-14, 1914.

Book References

BEARD, C. A. American Government and Politics. New and rev. ed. New York, The Macmillan Co., 1914. 788 pp. See Index under county.

BRISTOW, A. S. H. “Counties.” (In American and English Encyclopædia of Law. 2nd ed. Northport, N. Y., 1898. V. 7:898-972.)

CLARK, F. H. Outlines of Civics; being a supplement to Bryce’s American Commonwealth, abridged edition, ... New York and London, The Macmillan Company, 1899. 261 pp. “The County”: pp. 148-178.

FAIRLIE, J. A. “County Government.” (In Cyclopædia of American Government, New York, 1914. V. I: 492-497.)

FISHER, S. B. “Counties.” (In Mack, William, ed. Cyclopædia of Law and Procedure. New York, 1904. V. II: 325-615.)

FISKE, J. Civil Government in the United States, Considered with some Reference to its Origin. New ed., with additions. Boston, New York, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1904, 378 pp. See Index under county.

FLICKINGER, J. R. Civil Government as Developed in the States and in the United States. Boston, D. C. Heath & Co., 1901. 350 pp. See Index under county.

GOODNOW, F. J. Municipal Home Rule; a Study in Administration. New York, The Columbia University Press, The Macmillan Co., agents, 1906. 283 pp. See Index under county in United States.

MARRIOTT, CRITTENDEN. How Americans are Governed in Nation, State, and City. New York and London, Harper & Brothers, 1910. 372 pp. “Counties and Towns”: pp. 256-259.

MILLER, W. A. Civil Government, State and Federal; an Exposition of our Policy. Boston, New York, B. H. Sanborn & Co., 1910. 264 pp. “The County”: pp. 23-37.

MOSES, B. The Government of the United States. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1911. 424 pp. (Twentieth Century Textbooks, ed. by A. F. Nightingale.) “County Government”: pp. 313-315.

RADER, P. S. Civil Government of the United States and the State of Missouri. Rev. ed. Jefferson City, Mo. The Hugh Stephens Co. 1912. 351 pp. “Counties”: pp. 246-257.

SHERMAN, W. H. Civics: Studies in American Citizenship. New York, London, The Macmillan Co., 1905. 328 pp. “The County”: pp. 48-53.

Magazine Articles and Monographs

BAILEY, W. L. “The County Community and its Government.” In Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 14-25.

CARTWRIGHT, O. G. “Some needs to be considered in Reconstructing County Government.” In Proceedings of the First Conference for better County Government. 1914. The New York Short Ballot Organization.

CHILDS, R. S. “Ramshackle County Government.” Outlook, May 3, 1916.

GILBERTSON, H. S. “The Discovery of the County Problem.” American Review of Reviews, Nov., 1912. V. 46: 604-608.

GILBERTSON, H. S. “Elements of the County Problem.” In Annals of the American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 13.

TAYLOR, G. “The County, a Challenge to Humanized Politics and Volunteer Co-operation” (president’s address at forty-first annual meeting, National Conference of Charities and Corrections. 16 pp.)

Individual States

MILLER, E. J. “New Departure in County Government: California’s Experiment with Home Rule Charters.” American Political Science Review, Aug., 1913. V. 7: 411-419.

FAIRLIE, J. A. “County and Town Government in Illinois.” In Annals of American Academy, May 1913. pp. 62-78.

Illinois. Laws, Statutes, etc. A compilation of the laws of Illinois, relating to township organization and management of county affairs. 26th ed., rev. Chicago, The Legal Adviser Pub. Co. 1910. 863 pp.

Indiana, State Board of Accounts. Information concerning the business in county and township offices during the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 1911. (Indianapolis, 1912.) 352 pp.

LAPP, J. A. “Checks on County Government in Indiana.” Annals of American Academy, May, 1913. pp. 248-254.

WILHELM, L. W. Local Institutions of Maryland. Baltimore, N. Murray, publication agent, Johns Hopkins University, 1885. 129 pp. (Johns Hopkins University studies in Historical and Political Science, 3rd ser. v. 5-7.)

SCROGGS, W. O. “Parish Government in Louisiana.” In Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 39-47.

BEMIS, EDWARD W. “Local Government in Michigan and the Northwest.” Read before the American Social Science Assn., Sept. 7, 1882. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, 1883. 25 pp. (Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science. 1st ser., V.)

CARTER, C. P. The Government of Missouri. Boston, New York, Silver, Burdett and Company (1912). 171 pp. (with Lansing, Robert, Government: Its Origin, Growth and Form in the United States ... New York, Boston, 1902). “The County”: pp. 39-47.

LOEB, I. “County Government in Missouri.” In Annals of the American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 48-61.

PAUL W. “County Management in New Jersey.” In Proceedings of the Conference for the Study and Reform of County Government (second meeting). 1914. The New York Short Ballot Organization.

---- “The Movement for County Reorganization in New Jersey.” Annals of American Academy. May, 1913. pp. 255-257.

GILBERT, F. B. Bender’s supervisors’, county and town officers’ manual, containing the county, town, highway, general municipal, tax and poor laws in full and all other statutes of the state of New York, relating to boards of supervisors, town boards, county and town officers, and the affairs and business of counties and towns, as amended to the close of the legislature of 1912 ... 6th. ed. Albany, N. Y. M. Bender & Co., 1912. 1349 pp.

CARTWRIGHT, O. G. “County Government in New York State.” Annals of the American Academy. May, 1913. pp. 258-270.

GILBERTSON, H. S. “The New York County System.” American Political Science Review. Aug., 1914. pp. 413-430.

BUCK, GEO. S. “The Organization of County Government.” In Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, New York. Jan., 1915.

ROCKEFELLER, L. K. “County Government from the Comptroller’s Standpoint.” Proceedings of the Conference for the Study and Reform of County Government (third meeting). 1914. The New York Short Ballot Organization.

GUESS, W. C. County Government in Colonial North Carolina. 1911. 39 pp. (The University of North Carolina.) The James Sprunt historical publications pub. under the direction of the North Carolina Historical Society, v. II, No. I.

U’REN, W. S. “State and County Government in Oregon and Proposed Changes.” Annals of American Academy, May, 1913. pp. 271-273.

RAMAGE, B. J. Local Government and Free Schools in South Carolina. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, 1883. 40 pp. (Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science. 1st ser., v. 12.)

CHANNING, E. “Town and County Government in the English Colonies of North America.” The Toppan prize essay for 1883. Baltimore, N. Murray, publication agent (Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, 2nd ser., X) 2nd ser., v. 10.

HITCHCOCK, L. E. Powers and Duties of Sheriffs, Constables, Tax Collectors, and other Officers in the New England States. With forms and precedents. 2nd ed. Boston, Little, Brown & Co. 1914. 472 pp.

UPDYKE. “County Government in New England.” In Annals of American Academy, May, 1913. pp. 26-37.

Studies and Surveys of Individual Counties

Alameda County, Cal. Bulletins covering the investigation of many phases of county administration. Tax Association of Alameda County, 823 Oakland Bank of Savings Building, Oakland, Cal.

Cook County, Ill. Surveys of various county offices, in pamphlet form. Bureau of Public Efficiency, 315 Plymouth Court, Chicago, Ill. 1911-1916.

Monroe County, N. Y. Government of Monroe County, N. Y., organization and functions. The New York Constitutional Convention Commission. 1915.

Nassau County, N. Y. Government of Nassau County, N. Y., description of organization and functions. Commission on the Government of Nassau County, Mineola, N. Y. 1915.

Suffolk County, N. Y. First Annual Report of the Suffolk County Taxpayers’ Association. 1915. (Secretary’s office, 44 Court Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.)

Westchester County, N. Y. Various pamphlet publications of the Westchester County Research Bureau, 15 Court Street, White Plains, N. Y. 1911-1916.

Hudson County, N. J. The government of Hudson County. (Dissertation for Ph.D. degree, Columbia University, 1915.) The Citizens’ Federation of Hudson County issues reports on special phases of Hudson County affairs from time to time.

Cuyahoga County, O. The Civic League of Cleveland, Guardian Bldg., Cleveland, publishes reports on county offices and methods from time to time.

Milwaukee County, Wis. The Milwaukee County government, a bulletin of the City Club (a joint report of the committee on county administration, civil service and county institutions and buildings). 1915. The City Club of Milwaukee, Wis.

City-County Relations

BRUERE, H. and WALLSTEIN, L. M. Study of County Government within the City of New York and a Plan for its Reorganization. Prepared for the New York Constitutional Convention, 1915. 44 pp., diagrams, tabulations.

Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency. The Nineteen Local Governments of Chicago, 1915. 30 pp., charts.

HORMELL, O. C. “Boston’s County Problems.” Annals of American Academy, May, 1913. Pp. 134 et seq.

HATMAKER. “Schenectady’s City-County Plan.” In Proceedings of the first Conference for better County Government. The New York Short Ballot Organization, 1914.

KING, C. L. “Report of the City-County Committee of the American Political Science Assn.” American Political Science Review, Feb., 1914, sup., v. 8: 281-291.

LONG, P. V. “Consolidated City and County Government of San Francisco.” American Political Science Review, Feb., 1912, sup., v. 6: 109-121.

LUDINGTON, A. “The Relation of County to City Government in New York.” American Political Science Review, Feb., 1912, sup., v. 6: 73-88.

PAUL, W. and GILBERTSON, H. S. “Counties of the First Class in New Jersey.” American Political Science Review, Feb., 1914, sup., v. 8: 292-300.

YOUNG, T. P. “The Separation of City and County Governments in St. Louis, History and Purposes.” American Political Science Review, Feb., 1912, sup., v. 6: 97-108.

Charities

BURRITT, B. B. “County Management of Charities and Special Institutions in our Own State (N. Y.).” In Proceedings of the Conference for the Study and Reform of County Government (second meeting). The New York Short Ballot Organization.

HARRIS, E. F. “Charity Functions of the Pennsylvania County.” Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 166-181.

HAVILAND, C. F. The Treatment and Care of the Insane in Pennsylvania. The Public Charities Association. Philadelphia, 1915. 94 pp.

LANE, WINTHROP D. “A Rich Man in the Poor House.” Survey, Nov. 4, 1916.

MACY, V. E. “Administration of County Charities.” In Proceedings of the First Conference for better County Government. 1914. The New York Short Ballot Organization.

Civil Service

BELCHER, R. W. “The Merit System and the County Civil Service.” Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 101-111.

PAUL, W. “The County Employee.” Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 81-84.

The Coroner

Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency. Administration of the Office of the Coroner of Cook County, Ill. 1911. 68 pp.

Civic League of Cleveland (formerly the municipal association). The Coroner’s office, 1912. 30 pp.

DU VIVIER, J. “Abolishment of the Coroner’s Office.” In Proceedings of the Conference for the Study and Reform of County Government (second meeting). 1914. The New York Short Ballot Organization.

New York Short Ballot Organization. Abolishment of the office of Coroner in New York City. 1914. 16 pp.

SCHULTZ, O. T. “The Coroner’s Office.” In Annals of American Academy. May, 1913, pp. 112-119.

County Courts and Court Clerks

Bureau of Public Efficiency, Nov., 1912. 44 pp. Administration of the Office of Clerk of the County Court of Cook County, Ill.

HARLEY, H. “The County Judiciary.” In Proceedings of the First Conference for better County Government.

The Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency. The Judges and the County Fee Offices. 1911. 15 pp.

WOODS, K. P. “The Passing of County Courts.” (In Virginia.) Outlook, Jan. 31, 1903, v. 73: 264-265.

County Politics

JONES, C. L. “The County in Politics.” In Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 85-100.

The District Attorney

GANS, H. S. “The Public Prosecutor: his Powers, Temptations and Limitations.”... Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 120-133.

Financial Administration

BOYCE, J. E. “County Budgets: Economy and Efficiency in Expenditures.” Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 199-212.

BUCK, GEO. S. “The County Auditor.” In Proceedings of the first Conference for better County Government. The New York Short Ballot Organization. 1914.

CARTWRIGHT, O. G. “County Budgets and their Construction.” Annals of American Academy, Nov., 1915, pp. 223-234.

Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency. “The Budget of Cook County, Ill.” Jan., 1911. 54 pp. “The office of Treasurer of Cook County, Ill.” 1913. 68 pp.

COOKINGHAM, H. J., JR. “Taxation and County Government in New York State.” In Proceedings of the First Conference for Better County Government.

COKER, F. W. “Administration of Local Taxation in Ohio.” Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 182-198.

Home Rule

National Municipal Review. “County Home Rule,” Jan., 1913, sup., v. 2: 2-7.

WORKS, L. R. “County Home Rule in California.” Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 229-236.

Prisons

“Centralization of the Custody of Prisoners within the City of New York.” Report of the Commissioner of Accounts, Transmitted to the Mayor, Feb., 28, 1916.

LEWIS, O. F. “County Prisons.” Proceedings of the Conference for the Study and Reform of County Government, first meeting. The New York Short Ballot Organization, 1914.

The Recorder

“Administration of the Office of Recorder of Cook County, Ill.” Report prepared for the judges of the circuit court by the Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency, Sep., 1911. 63 pp.

“The Recorder’s Office.” Civic League of Cleveland, Mar., 1914. Report No. 3, Efficiency Series. 25 pp.

Reorganization

CHILDS, R. S. “The County Manager Plan.” In Proceedings of the first Conference for Better County Government. 1914. The New York Short Ballot Organization.

---- “A Theoretically Perfect County.” Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 274-278.

“The Short Ballot County Amendment.” Brief submitted to the Constitutional Convention of New York, 1915. The New York Short Ballot Organization, 1915. 16 pp.

The Sheriff

CAWCROFT, E. “The Sheriff and a State Constabulary.” In Proceedings of the First Conference for Better County Government.

Civic League of Cleveland. (Formerly the municipal association.) The Sheriff’s office, 1912. 26 pp.

State Administrative Supervision

BRINDLEY, J. E. “State Supervision of County Assessment and Taxation.” Annals of American Academy, May, 1913, pp. 213-226.

State Police

“Why the Farms and Villages of New York State Need Protection.” 1915. Committee for a state police, 7 East 42nd Street, New York, N. Y.

“Why New York Needs a State Police.” 1915. Committee for a state police.

INDEX

Accounting, (uniform) in Ohio, 122; significance of better, 181, 184-185; unit cost, 185

Administration, scientific, 181-192

Advertising (political), as a source of patronage, 53; see also County press

Agricultural associations, importance in rural life, 203

Alabama, origin of county system in, 21; county officers elective in, 29; report of prison inspector quoted, 92; lack of accounting law in, 122; county local option in, 150

Alameda County, Cal., work of Tax Association in, 7; home rule charter proposed in, 81-149; classification as an urban county, 154; map of, diagram of proposed federation of, 161-162; savings effected through better purchasing methods in, 189; recommendations as to purchasing methods in, 190

Almshouse, description of early, 82, 83; insane in, 87, 137-138; in Westchester County, 200-201; a Texas, 266-273; see South

American Judicature Society, proposals for county judiciary of, 131

American Revolution, influence of its philosophy on local government institutions, 25

Appointive power, lack of, in county, 30

Appointive system, workings of, in eastern states, 30

Appointments, new method employed in Westchester County, N. Y., 201

Arizona, uniform accounting law in, 122

Arkansas, lack of accounting law in, 122

Assessment and taxation, county as a unit of, 125; state control over, 126

Assessors, functions of, in New Jersey, 27; elective officers since 1693, 28; local selection of, 108-109

Auditing, significance of better, 181; 187 et seq.

Auditor, importance of independence of, 188

Automobile, effect on rural life and government, 23

Ballot, insignificance of county officers on, in many cases, 44

Baltimore, abolition of county government in, 153; classification as an urban county, 154

Board of Chosen Freeholders, powers reduced in Hudson County, N. J., 38

Board of Supervisors, clerks of, in New York, appear before constitutional convention, 3; function in fiscal administration of, 14; duty of, in law enforcement, 132-133; how constituted in ideal county, 171; text of provisions in Los Angeles County charter concerning, 220-223; see also Governing body

Boroughs, proposed division of Alameda County, Cal., into, 160

Boston, city-county consolidation in, 158; metropolitan district compared to London, 164

Boundaries (county), made obsolete by conditions of modern life, 23; power to change county, 113; necessity for relocation of, 153

Boyle, Prof. John A., on reporting and accounting laws, 122

Bramhall, F. D, on obscurity of urban counties, 65

Bridges, frauds in building of, 77; awarding of contracts for, 98-99; awarding of contracts for, in Polk County, Iowa, 100; see Roads and bridges

Bronx County, N. Y., formation of, 24

Budget, importance of adequate county executive in making of, 176; nature of, 177; significance of better, 181; accounting basis for, 185-187

Buffalo, N. Y., relation to county, 154; see Erie County

Bureau of Inspection, etc., in Ohio, 121

Bureau of Public Efficiency, (Chicago), on special county legislation, 116

Butte County (Cal.), charter of, 149

California, extent of merit system in counties of, 52; county legislation in, 115; uniform accounting law in, 122; salary of county judges in, 130; highway progress and plans in, 142; success of municipal home rule in, 146; county home rule in, 145-147; county libraries in, 199, 207-219; see also Alameda County, Los Angeles County, San Francisco County, Assessors

Cartwright, Otho G., quoted, 176

Charities, State Board of, in New York, 128; modern methods in administration of, 136; gradual abandonment of county as unit for administration of, 138

Chicago, candidates for county offices voted for in, 62; law enforcement in, 106; county government in, 114; see also Cook County, Ill.

Chief medical examiner (in New York City), 134; text of law, 257-265

Children, prohibition against commitment to almshouses, 83; injustice done to destitute, under New York poor laws, 85; treatment of, in Westchester County, 202

Cincinnati, Ohio, proposals for city-county consolidation in, 152

Cities, reconstructive forces in American, 1; greater need for government in, 151; consolidation with counties, 151-167; importance solving the county problem of, 167; commission government in, 169

Citizenship (rural), 194

Civil Service, slow growth of reform in counties, 52; state control over, 126-127; in Los Angeles County, Cal., 172-173, 231-239

Clerk of Court, duties of, 13; relation to the bench, 135; see County Clerk

Cleveland, Ohio, county government in, 114; proposal for city-county consolidation in, 152; relation to county, 154

Clinton County, N. Y., (County “B”), irregularities in county offices of, 72-73

Colorado, establishment of counties in, 22; extent of merit system in, 52; uniform accounting law in, 122; provisions in constitution of, affecting Denver, 155

Commission plan of city government, 169

Commissioner of Charities and Correction, 202

Commissioners (county) in Pennsylvania, 28

Commitments to almshouses,--abuses of, in New York, 85, 200

Comptroller (state), ineffective as check upon county officers without adequate examining staff, 36

Connecticut, origin of county in, 9; local system of courts in, 12; public prosecutor in, 12; influence of Massachusetts precedents in, 19; convention in, 38; appointive judiciary in, 131

Consolidation (city and county), under California constitution, 149; in general, 151-167

Constables, law enforcement by, in New York State, 107, 138

Constabulary, Pennsylvania, 140; in Los Angeles County charter, 231

Constitution (state), provisions concerning counties, 112, 115

Cook County, Ill., President of Board of Commissioners elected by people, 40; large fees of treasurer in, 51; county commissioners prevent accounting for county treasurer’s fees, 52; duplication of local governments in, 63; humanitarian functions of, 80, 81; prisoners in county jail of, 80; insane cared for by, 81; dependent children cared for by, 81; appropriations for, in 1913, 81

Coroner, origin of, 13; falsity of theory underlying his election, 32; fees of, 50; failures in urban counties, 59; abolition of, proposed, 133; appointive, 172; see Massachusetts, New York (city).

Corruption and form of government, 102

Council, powers of, in Indiana counties, 37

Council of appointment in New York State, 28

County, the, treatment of problem in New York constitutional convention, 2, 3; popular apathy concerning, 5; neglect of, in college courses, and by journalists, 6; general statistics concerning, in U. S., 7-8; colonial origin of, 9 et seq.; legal relation to state government, 10, 11; general manner of its development, 22-23; decline of, in England, 23; unadapted to urban conditions, 24; its failure as a humanitarian agency, 92; relation to state government, 113, 127, 128; power to erect new, 113; limitation on powers of, 113; misuse of funds by, 120; as unit for tax assessment, 125; growing importance of, in certain directions, 143; superiority over town as tax assessment and collection unit, 144; abolishment of, proposed in New York City, 157; the ideal, 168

---- chambers of commerce, 203

---- clerk, duties of, 13; independence of county judge, 130; relation to the bench, 135; appointment of advocated, 135; appointive method of selection of, 171, 172

----committee, actual power in selecting county officers, 48; basis of party organization, 55

---- court, consisted of justices of the peace in Virginia, 17; its administrative functions in some states, 17; jurisdiction of, 129-132; see also County Judge, Cook County

---- custodian, office of, created in a New York county, 5

---- governments, lack of control over local policies, 15; ineffectual in operation owing to lack of unity, 43; lack of popular interest in and its effects, 43-44; their stereotyped condition in face of new responsibilities, 60; at work, 66-79; defects in, as affecting highway matters, 95; general criticism of, 170

---- health officers in North Carolina, 195-196

---- hospital in Westchester County (N. Y.), 202

---- jail, separate jurisdiction of, in Milwaukee, 62; overcrowding of, 91; buildings faultily constructed and unsanitary, 91; need of publicity concerning, 92; in Westchester County (N. Y.), 202; insane in, 271-273; see also Cook County, Ill.

---- judge formerly appointed county officers in Tennessee, 28; see also New York (state), County Court

---- libraries, 198-199

---- lieutenant, militia officer in colonies, 17

---- manager, proposed, 175; probable influence of, 176-177; proposed in Oregon, 178; in New York, 178-179; in Alameda County, Cal., 180; text of proposed law providing for, 251-256

---- officers, duties of, in colonial New England, 18; effect of obscurity on, 44; effect of divided allegiance upon efficiency of, 68; in Los Angeles County, 223-225; under Los Angeles County charter, 227-229

---- physician, in New Jersey functions of, 134; in North Carolina, 195

---- planning in Westchester County, N. Y., 197-198

---- poor farm in Westchester County, N. Y., 201

---- prisons, administration of, by counties, 89-92; see also County jail

---- superintendent of schools appointive, 172

---- surveyor as road master, 96

---- treasurer, created in Massachusetts, 18; see Cook County, Ill.

Court houses, scandals characteristic of building of, 76; in Hudson County, N. J., 74-75

Courts, differentiation of functions necessary in urban communities, 59; see also County Court, local system of, in colonial Connecticut, 12

Cox, Governor James J., efforts to improve tax assessment system in Ohio, 111

Cuyahoga County, O., see Cleveland

Dakota, alternative plans of county government in territory of, 22

Darke County, O., management of road affairs by board of commissioners, 98

Dayton, O., city manager plan in, 175

Defectives, treatment of, in Westchester County, N. Y., 201

Delaware, lack of accounting law in, 122

Democracy, spirit of, in early nineteenth century, 25-26

Denver, selection of sheriff by mayor in, 133; classification as an urban county, 154; constitutional provisions affecting government of, 155-156; commission form of government in, 156; power of mayor in, 156; unified control in, 174

Deputy (chief) county officers, importance of, and relation to elective superiors, 50

Direct primary, doubtful value of, in county government, 48

District attorney (state), origin of, in colonial Connecticut, 12-13; popular interest in, 46; elected on false issue of law enforcement, 107-108; functions of, 134; essentially a local officer, 155; see New York (state); see also Prosecutor

District attorney (federal), method of selection contrasted with that of local prosecutors, 33

Efficiency, Bureau of (in Los Angeles County), 191

Elective road officials, 96

Electric railways, effect on rural life and government, 23

Engineering services, duplication of in Milwaukee, 62

England, importance of its precedents in colonies, 17

Erie County, N. Y., form of county government in, 114

Essex County, N. J., classification as urban county, 154; county park system in, 163; office of supervisor in, 173-174

Examiners (state), character of service rendered to local officials, 123

Executive, how absence of, militates against proper law enforcement, 34-35, 74

Federation, proposed in Alameda County, Cal., 159-160

Feeble-minded, removed from county control, 83

Fees, attraction of, to politician and disposition of, 50-51; of coroner, 50; theory of system, 51; failure of system, 51, 202; abolishment of, in Los Angeles County, 173

Finance, laxity in methods of, 70; in bridge construction, 183

Fire protection, proposed as county function in Alameda County, Cal., 160

Flaherty v. Milliken, decision in, involving sheriff’s liability, 53

Florida, uniform accounting law in, 122

Freeholders, Board of Chosen, (N. J.), 173

Georgia, uniform accounting law in, 122

“Good roads” movement, effect on highway administration, 95, 140

Governing body, ill-adapted for executive functions, 41; insufficient control over elective county officers, 41; see also Boards of supervisors, Freeholders, Commissioners

Governor, formerly appointed county officers in Kentucky, 28; ineffective control over county officers, 36; suggestion that sheriffs be appointed by, 133; county officers appointed by, in Massachusetts, 158

Hamilton County (O.), see Cincinnati

Haviland, Dr. C. Floyd, on treatment of insane in Pennsylvania, 88

Health (public), neglected in rural communities, 60; beginnings and basic idea of movement for, 83; county as a unit for administration of, 143; program of, needed in rural sections, under county control, 195

Highways, as a unifying factor in modern life, 94; amount spent in U. S. in 1913, 94; growing state control over, 95; diminution of county control over, 140 et seq.; state aid for, 141; see also Roads and bridges

Home office, relations to county of London, 166

Home rule (county), 145-150; text of provisions in California constitution, 207-218; proposed constitutional amendment in New York, 247-250

Hospital service, duplication of agencies for, in Milwaukee 61; see also County hospital

Hudson County, N. J., court house scandal in, 7; boulevard commission in, 38; separate powers of commission, 38; park system, 39; building of court house in, 75; classification as urban county, 154; supervisor in, 173-174

Humanitarian functions of county, 80-93

Idaho, establishment of counties in, 22; county local option in, 150

Illinois, Southern and New England influence on county system of, 21; county officers under first constitution of, elective, 28; system in, 52; insane in penal institutions of, 87; report of State Charities Commission on county jails, 91-92; Sabbath law enforcement in, 106; special county legislation in, 116; optional county government forms in, 147; see Cook County

Indiana, origin of county in, 20; county officers under first constitution elective, 28; county government scandal in 1898, 37; powers of county commissioners reduced by establishment of council, 37; illegal payments by county officers in, 78; law enforcement in, 107; uniform reporting in, 122

Industrial revolution, indirect influence on county government, 23

Insane, removed from county control, 83; care of, by counties, 87-89; first hospital for, at Utica, N. Y., 137; see Cook County, Ill., New Jersey, Illinois, Louisiana, Pennsylvania

Institutions (state), see Insane, Penitentiaries, Reformatories, etc.

Iowa, county township system in, 20; methods employed by supervisors in Woodbury County, 76-77; bridge lobby in legislature of, 101; state control of highways in, 142; see Polk County

Jail, see County jail

Jersey City (N. J.), see Hudson County, N. J.

Judiciary (state), relation of county officers to, 129-132; importance of reorganization, 131; (federal) cited as instance of appointive method of selection, 131

“Jungle,” the, 34-42

Justices of the peace, duties of, in colonial Virginia, 17; functions in Virginia, 27; power to commit children to almshouses in New York State, 85; reorganization of, 131; jurisdiction of, 132

Kansas, county-township system in, 20; report of roads and highways committee, 101; uniform accounting law in, 122

Kentucky, influence of Virginia upon county organization of, 20; county officers made appointive in eighteenth century, 28; reaction against appointive system in, 29; lack of accounting law in, 122; county local option in, 150

Kings County, N. Y., former office of supervisor-at-large in, 40

Koochiching County (Wis.), county health organization in, 196

Labor, provisions in Los Angeles County charter concerning, 239

Law enforcement, lax under county officers, 70, 74; made a political issue, 107; unification of local agencies for, suggested, 133; see Nullification

Leadership, importance of, in county affairs, 176

Legislation (county), uniformity in, 112

Legislative representation, often based upon county, 56

Lewis, O. F., on county jails in New York, 91

Libraries, see County libraries

Local government, restricted functions of, in early nineteenth century, 27; new burdens placed upon, as result of congestion of population, 58

London, functions of county of, 165; County Council an example of county government unification, 164-166

Long ballot, its effect on organization of county government, 34; contributions of county to, 62

Los Angeles County, Cal., charter of, 61, 149, 172, 219, et seq.; county candidates on ballot of, 62; civil service in, 191; public defender in, 200

Louisiana, police jury in, 21; insane in parish jails, 87; uniform accounting law in, 122; county local option in, 150

Macy, V. Everit, on operation of poor law in New York State, 84-85; superintendent of the poor, 200-203

Madison, James, influence in favor of retaining original county system in Virginia, 29

Mail facilities, effect on rural life and government, 24

Maine, influence of Massachusetts precedents in, 19; lack of accounting law in, 122

Marshall, John, influence in favor of retaining original Virginia county system, 29

Marshals, U. S., method of selection contrasted with that of sheriff, 33, 133

Maryland, county government, 19; lack of accounting law in, 122; highway progress in, 142; county libraries in, 199

Massachusetts, origin and early history of county in, 9; spoils system in, 52; county prisons in, 90; uniform accounting law in, 122; abolition of coroner’s office in, 133; leader in establishing state penal institutions, 137; reform institutions in, 137; state aid in highway construction in, 142; metropolitan district of, 154

Medical examiner, suggested as a substitute for coroner, 60; in Massachusetts, 133; see also Chief medical examiner

Medical referee (in New Hampshire), 134

Michigan, township-supervisor system in, 20; uniform accounting law in, 122; state penitentiary in, 137; county local option in, 150

Middle West, insane in almshouses, 87-88; New England influences in, 104

Milwaukee, Wis., report of City Club of, regarding city and county offices, 61; county government in, 114; proposals for city-county consolidation in, 152; relations to county, 154

Minnesota, alternative plans of county government in, 22; uniform accounting law in, 122; county local option in, 150; county libraries in, 199

Mississippi, origin of county system in, 21; county officers elective in, 29; lack of accounting law in, 122

Missouri, county-township system in, 20; alternative plans of, county organization in, 21; county officers elective in, 29; poor law and almshouse administration in, 86; equalization of taxes in, 110; lack of accounting law in, 122; county libraries in, 199

Monroe County, N. Y., absence of road records in, 98

Montana, establishment of counties in, 22; county local option in, 150

Mosquito Commission, in Hudson County, N. J., 39

Nassau County, N. Y., work of County Association in, 7; recommendations of official commission in, for county home rule, 148

National Municipal League, its report on city-county consolidation, 153, 154

Nebraska, alternative plans of county organization in, 21; activity of bridge builders in legislature of, 102; county libraries in, 199

Nevada, uniform accounting law in, 122

New England, influences operating on local government in, 17; formation of first counties in, 18; county-town relations in, 143

New Hampshire, limited powers of commissioners in, 37-38; convention, powers and duties of, 38; lack of accounting law in, 122; appointive judiciary in, 131

New Jersey, local assessors in, 19; office of supervisor in, 39-40; law affecting sheriff’s appointments, 52; extent of merit system in counties of, 52; insane in penal institutions of, 87; county legislation in, 115-116; state civil service regulation in, 127; the surrogate in, 130; appointive judiciary in, 131; optional county government forms in, 147; see Essex County, Hudson County

New Mexico, establishment of county system in, 22; uniform accounting law in, 122

New York (city), special legislation for counties of, 117; abolition of coroners in, 134; city-county consolidation proposals in, 152; extent of city-county consolidation in, 156-157; metropolitan district compared to London, 164

New York (county), large fees of sheriff in, 51

New York (state), counties of, discussed in constitutional convention, 2-3; supervisors in towns of, 19; elective method applied to sheriffs and county clerks in, 29; district attorneys and county judges made elective in, 29; extent of merit system in counties of, 52; legal relation of sheriff to his deputies in, 52-53; requirements as to county advertising, 53; almshouses in, 82; improvement of condition of poor in, 84; New England influences in, 104; enforcement of anti-racing laws in, 106; under-assessment of taxes by local officers, 109; equalization of taxes in, 110; county law in, 114; uniform reporting law in, 121; civil service regulation in, 127; State Board of Charities, its jurisdiction, 128; comptroller, his powers over county officers in, 128; the surrogate in, 130; state prisons in, 137; first state reformatory in, 137; “state” poor in, 138; committee on State Police, 139; highway control in, 142; County Government Association, its recommendations concerning county home rule, 148; metropolitan district of, 154; proposal for county manager in, 178; classification of county accounts in, 184; public health movement in, 195; county libraries in, 199; see also Erie County, Kings County, Monroe County, Orange County, Nassau County, Prison Assn., Westchester County

New York Times, its proposals for abolishment of counties in New York State, 152

Niagara County, N. Y., district attorney quoted concerning rural post office robberies, 138

Niagara Falls, N. Y., city manager plan in, 175

North Carolina, influence of Virginia precedents on, 19; lack of accounting law in, 123; public health movement in, 195; county physicians in, 195; home-study clubs in, 204-205

North Dakota, accounting and reporting legislation in, 122

Northwest, importance of county as unit of government in, 22; New England influences in, 104

Nullification, 104-111

Ohio, county-township system in, 20; county officers in first constitution elective, 28; extent of merit system in counties of, 52; pioneer in county reporting, 121-122; state penitentiary in, 137; highway progress in, 142; county libraries in, 198-199; see Cleveland, Cincinnati, Darke County

Oklahoma, uniform accounting law in, 122; public defender in, 199

Omaha, long ballot in, owing to elective county officers, 63

Orange County, N. Y., (County “A”), irregularities of officers of, 70-71

Ordinance of 1787, county officers under, appointive, 28

Oregon, establishment of counties in, 22; county local option in, 150; proposal for county manager in, 178; county libraries in, 199

Parks, county system in Essex County, N. J., 163

Party, organization, importance of county as unit of, 55; baneful effects upon county administration, 191

Payments, frequency of illegal, 188

Pennsylvania, commissioners in, 19; party organization in, 55; care of dependent children in, 86-87; treatment of insane in, 88-89; state constabulary in, 140

Pennybacker, J. E., on highways, 140 et seq.

Philadelphia, classification as an urban county, 154

Personnel, importance and limitations of, as factor in good government, 67; administrative, 191; see Civil service

Police, proposed as county function in Alameda County, Cal., 160; see Constabulary

Police functions, county officers unable to perform, in complex communities, 58

Political boss, origin of, in county government, 47-48

Polk County, Iowa, awarding of bridge contracts in, 100

Poor, care of, entrusted to county governments, 14-15; former treatment and present scientific handling of, 82; superintendents of, in N. Y. State, powers of, 85; overseers of, in N. Y. State, commitments by, 85; importance of records concerning, 190; administration of laws dealing with, 200; see Missouri, N. Y. State, Pennsylvania

Poverty, prevention of, 201

Press (county), small circulation, lack of independence, 54; need for improving, 194

Prison Association, in New York State, secretary of, quoted, 91

Prisoners, classification of, 83, 84; jurisdiction of county over, 90; classification of, systematically violated, 91; transfer of certain classes of, to state institutions advocated, 136-137

Probation, importance of records concerning, 190

Professional politicians, great opportunity of, in obscurity of county government, 47

Prosecutor, appointment of, advocated, 135; see District attorney

Public defender, the, 199-200

Public Efficiency Society, work of, in Cook County, Ill., 7

Publicity, importance in county affairs of, 182

Purchasing, duplication of systems in Milwaukee, 62; significance of better methods of, 181; agent, 189; consolidation of local agencies for, 190, 200, 201

Qualifications (legal) of county officers, lack of, 50

Quick, Herbert, on county government in Iowa, 76-77; characterization of county government by, 194

Race track legislation, enforcement of, by local county officers, 106-107

Readjustments of county system, 129-144

Recall, provisions in Los Angeles County charter concerning, 240-244

Reconstruction, of county government, 168-180; formula for, 169

Recorder, appointive, 172

Records, usual lack of, in road management by counties, 98; in Westchester County almshouse, 200-201

Reporting, importance of uniform, 121

Responsibility, lack of in organization of judiciary, 131; necessity for fixing in counties, 170-171

Rhode Island, origin of county in, 9; influence of Massachusetts institutions in, 19; sheriffs appointed by legislature in, 29; lack of accounting law in, 123

Roads and bridges, 94-103; under Los Angeles County charter, 229-231

Rochester, N. Y., proposals for city-county consolidations in, 152

Rural politics, influence of county press on, 55

Rural voter, civic capacity of, 44, 170

St. Louis County (Mo.), city-county consolidation in, 153

Salmon, Dr. Thomas W., on county almshouse care of insane, 89

San Bernardino County, Cal., adoption and amendment of county charter in, 30, 31, 149

San Francisco, classification as an urban county, 154; city-county consolidation in, 158-159

Saxon kingdoms, the original of English counties, 23

Secor, Alson, on bridge lobby at Des Moines, 101-102

Sectionalism, stimulated by governmental organization in some states, 97

Selectmen, functions in colonial Virginia, 16; functions of, in New England, 27

Sheriff, maladministration of, in a central N. Y. county, 4; historical origin of, 11; court duties of, 12; duties of, in Virginia, 17; elective officer in Pennsylvania since 1726, 28; in New Jersey after Revolution, 28; falsity of theory underlying his election, 32; large fees of, in New York County, 51; appointing power restricted in New Jersey, 52; relation to deputies according to N. Y. courts, 52-53; principal police agency in early local governments, 58; conflict with other police agencies, 60, 61; limitations as jail keeper, 90; as enforcer of state laws in N. Y. State, 107; imperfectly controlled by county judge, 130; functions as court officer discussed, 132; suggestion that governor appoint, 133; inability of, in dealing with crime, 139; encroachment upon functions of, by Department of Correction in N. Y. City, 157; appointive method of selection of, proposed, 171; importance of records of, 190; see Rhode Island

Short ballot, the basic principle of county reconstruction, 169-170; meaning of, 181

Solicitor, see District Attorney

South, development of county in, 9; the insane in county almshouses of, 87

South Carolina, influence of Virginia precedents on, 19; lack of accounting law in, 123; appointive judiciary in, 131

Southwest, importance of county as unit of local government in, 22

Special legislation, testimony of county officer concerning, in N. Y. constitutional convention, 4

State constitutions, provisions of, concerning counties, 112

---- control in taxation, 126

---- examiners in Ohio, 121

---- government, stiffening hold on highway matters, 95; influence in county affairs, 112-119

---- legislatures, power over counties, 112

---- party organization, built upon county units, 55

---- supervision of accounts recommended, 185

State’s attorney, see District Attorney

Suffolk County, Mass., see Boston

Suffolk County, N. Y., work of Taxpayers Assn. in, 7

Superintendent of the poor, appointive method of selection proposed, 171

Supervisor (town), functions of, in N. Y., 27; elective officers in N. Y. since 1691, 28; in Hudson County, N. J., 40; influence in road affairs, 97; see Board of supervisors, Essex County and Hudson County, N. J.

Surrogate, jurisdiction of, in probate matters, 130

Surveyor, appointive, 172; see County surveyor

System (of government), importance of, as contrasted with personnel, 66, 74, 78

Tammany Hall, its influence exercised through control of county offices, 55

Tax administration, inappropriateness of town as unit for, 144; dual system of, in California, 160

---- collector, appointive, 172

---- laws, nullification of, by local officers, 108

Taylor, Graham, on humanitarian functions of county, 80-81

Tehama County (Cal.), charter of, 149

Telephone, effect on rural life and government, 24

Tennessee, influence of early Virginia precedents on county government, 20; county officers of, made appointive, 28; uniform accounting law in, 122

Texas, American county system established in, 22; lack of accounting law in, 123; county local option in, 150

Town, dominant idea in local government of New England, 17; relation of county to, in New England, 143; inappropriateness of, for performance of certain functions, 143-144

Township officers in Los Angeles County charter, 225-227

Treasurer, elective in Massachusetts, 27; appointive, 172; see county treasurer

Tuberculosis, effect upon general public health movement of fight against, 195

Turnpike companies, as road builders and operators, 94

Uniformity in county legislation, 112 et seq.

Urban communities, growth of, 57

Urban counties, 57-65

Utah, establishment of counties in, 22; lack of accounting law in, 123

Vermont, lack of accounting law in, 123

Virginia, origin of counties of, 16; constitutional convention, discussion concerning local government in, 29; reaction against appointive system of, 29; lack of accounting law in, 123; highway progress in, 142; independent cities of, 153

Westchester County, work of Research Bureau, 7; patronage in political advertising, 53-54; recommendations of official commission in, for county home rule, 148; auditing practices in, 184; discrepancies between estimates, etc., for poor relief in, 184; see County planning, V. Everit Macy

Westchester County Chamber of Commerce, its activities in county planning, 197; in activities for better county government, 204

Westchester County Research Bureau, statement concerning budget making, 186-187

Western Reserve, New England influences in, 20, 104

West Virginia, uniform accounting law in, 122

Wisconsin, compromise plan of county government, township system in, 21; spoils system in, 52; provisions for county graduate nurse in, 196; county libraries in, 199

Wyoming, auditing system in, 122; county libraries in, 199

Transcriber’s Notes

In a few cases, obvious punctuation errors have been corrected.

Page 27: “Massachussetts had always had it” changed to “Massachusetts had always had it”

Page 142: “cases to impofe standards” changed to “cases to impose standards”

Page 192: “comparative efficiency of employes” changed to “comparative efficiency of employees”

Page 236: “comparative efficiency of employes” changed to “comparative efficiency of employees”

Page 238: “No officer or employe of the county,” changed to “No officer or employee of the county,”

Page 245: “No attorney, agent, stockholder or employe of any firm” changed to “No attorney, agent, stockholder or employee of any firm”

Page 253: “other powers, duties and responsibilties” changed to “other powers, duties and responsibilities” In Appendix C, page 248, a footnote has been created to contain the explanation text.

In the Index, the spelling of Polk County was corrected.