Theodore Roosevelt an Autobiography

Patronage does not really help a party. It helps the bosses to get control of the machinery of the party--as in 1912 was true of the Republican party--but it does not help the party. On the average, the most sweeping party victories in our history have been won when the patronage was against the victors. All that the patronage does is to help the worst element in the party retain control of the party organization.