The County: The "Dark Continent" of American Politics

The author examines county government as an overlooked layer of American democracy, surveying its origins, legal status, and functions while documenting sanitary, fiscal, and administrative failures. He analyzes how tradition, fragmentation of elected offices, local political machines, and inadequate state oversight produce inefficiency, corruption, and uneven services in urban and rural counties. Case studies and statutory comparisons illustrate problems in jails, almshouses, roads, public health, and fiscal management. Proposed remedies include state guidance, constitutional and charter home rule, consolidation, county managers, and scientific administration aimed at reconstructing counties for more accountable, efficient government and outlining possibilities for future reform.