The saloon was the focus of neighborhood activity and a vital social base for political activity. The saloonkeepers became political authorities in a variety of cities throughout a majority of urban America. Political machines are involved in various forms of corruption. Just as the political machine performs legitimate business, so it functions to execute not unlike services for prohibited business such as immorality, crime, and scams. The machine leader acted as a broker amid urban masses, businessman, and government, and between the upperworld and the underworld.
