The Senator was an extremely influential man.

His wants had to be attended to, and the woman had to go.

And go she did, and turned out she was, to suffer with her children and to starve outright, or to live in semi-starvation, just as might befall.

I do not blame the bureau chief, who hated to do what he did, although he lacked the courage to refuse; I do not even very much blame the Senator, who did not know the hardship that he was causing, and who had been calloused by long training in the spoils system; but this system, a system which permits and encourages such deeds, is a system of brutal iniquity.
Any man accustomed to dealing with practical politics can with difficulty keep a straight face when he reads or listens to some of the arguments advanced against Civil Service Reform.

One of these arguments, a favorite with machine politicians, takes the form of an appeal to "party loyalty" in filling minor offices.