Among the important county officers are the sheriff, who is chief guardian of the peace in the county, has charge of the jail, is the chief executive officer of the county court (see p. 439), and sometimes acts as tax collector; the county prosecutor (also called the prosecuting attorney, the district attorney, or the state's attorney), who prosecutes all criminal cases in the county and represents the public authorities in civil suits; the county clerk, who keeps the county records; the register of deeds, who records all transfers of property; the coroner, who investigates the cause of violent and mysterious deaths; the tax assessor; the treasurer; the auditor, who examines the accounts of county officers; the surveyor; the school superintendent; the health officer. Some times there are others.
LACK OF INTEREST IN COUNTY GOVERNMENT
Although practically every citizen of the United States is also a citizen of a county, the people have as a rule shown surprisingly little interest in county government. As generally found it affords a striking example of poor service resulting from a lack of teamwork. County government has the reputation of being one of the weakest spots in our whole system of government.
WILL COUNTY GOVERNMENT SURVIVE?
We seem to have gotten into the habit of not expecting much service from the county government. Where the township government is strong, as in New England, it takes the place of county government. Where people live in cities, they look to the city government to serve them rather than to the county government. In rural districts the people have come more and more to look to the state and national governments for such service as they expect government to give. These facts might suggest the question whether or not we really need county government.
One recent writer says,
There are some parts of the country where I can see that the county will pass out of existence entirely in a very short time, unless it does adjust itself to the new conditions. [Footnote: H.S. Gilbertson, in the University of North Carolina RECORD, No. 159, October, 1918, p. 37.]
The same writer says,
Unless the county does measure up in this way, the powers of government and the services which it renders will have to drift away from local control and be placed in the hands of some government more fit and which will probably be further away from home.