ABSTRACT
The first attempts at legislative reform which sought to remedy the state of things brought about by the development of the party Organizations were aimed at the degradation of the public service by the spoils system. This system had alike demoralized political life and deteriorated the government. Patronage was the motive power of government and the principal source of political influence, while, again, skill in electoral wire-pulling and "work" done for the party constituted the sole claim to office, at the expense of real merit and even of honesty. After the endeavours to starve the Machine by putting the public offices out of its reach, attempts were made to deprive it of another means of subsistence—of the electoral monopoly which it had acquired. The principal source of its influence was thought to lie in the fact that it had obtained possession of the material organization of the elections.
