When we reflect that within a few decades of the discovery of
electric power, every city, large and small, had its street-car
and electric-light service, and that most of these cities,
through their councils, gave away these monopoly rights for long
periods of time, we can imagine the princely aggregate of the
gifts which public service corporations have received at the
hands of our municipal governments, and the nature of the
temptations these corporations were able to spread before the
greedy gaze of those whose gesture would seal the grant.

But it was not only at the granting of the franchise that the
boss and his machine sought for spoils. A public service
corporation, being constantly asked for favors, is a continuing
opportunity for the political manipulator. Public service
corporations could share their patronage with the politician in
exchange for favors. Through their control of many jobs, and
through their influence with banks, they could show a wide
assortment of favors to the politician in return for his
influence; for instance, in the matter of traffic regulations,
permission to tear up the streets, inspection laws, rate
schedules, tax assessments, coroners' reports, or juries.

When the politician went to the voters, he adroitly concealed his
designs under the name of one of the national parties. Voters
were asked to vote for a Republican or a Democrat, not for a
policy of municipal administration or other local policies. The
system of committees, caucuses, conventions, built up in every
city, was linked to the national organization. A citizen of New
York, for instance, was not asked to vote for the Broadway
Franchise, which raised such a scandal in the eighties, but to