All the
federal office-holders, all the postmasters and their assistants,
revenue collectors, inspectors, clerks, marshals, deputies,
consuls, and ambassadors were a part of the organization,
contributing to its maintenance. We often hear today of the
"Federal Crowd," a term used to describe such appointees as still
subsist on presidential and senatorial favor. In Grant's time,
this "crowd" was a genuine machine, constructed, unlike some of
its successors, from the center outward. But the "boss" of this
machine was not the President. It was controlled by a group of
leading Congressmen, who used their power for dictating
appointments and framing "desirable" legislation. Grant, in the
imagination of the people, symbolized the cause their sacrifices
had won; and thus his moral prestige became the cloak of the
political plotters.
A number of the ablest men in the Republican party, however,
stood aloof; and by 1876 a movement against the manipulators had
set in. Civil service reform had become a real issue. Hayes, the
"dark horse" who was nominated in that year, declared, in
accepting the nomination, that "reform should be thorough,
radical, and complete." He promised not to be a candidate for a
second term, thus avoiding the temptation, to which almost every
President has succumbed, of using the patronage to secure his
reelection. The party managers pretended not to hear these
promises. And when Hayes, after his inauguration, actually began
to put them into force, they set the whole machinery of the party
against the President.
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