It would be an entire mistake to suppose that Mr.Platt's lieutenants were either all bad men or all influenced by unworthy motives.

He was constantly doing favors for men.

He had won the gratitude of many good men.

In the country districts especially, there were many places where his machine included the majority of the best citizens, the leading and substantial citizens, among the inhabitants.
Some of his strongest and most efficient lieutenants were disinterested men of high character.
There had always been a good deal of opposition to Mr.Platt and the machine, but the leadership of this opposition was apt to be found only among those whom Abraham Lincoln called the "silk stockings," and much of it excited almost as much derision among the plain people as the machine itself excited anger or dislike.

Very many of Mr.Platt's opponents really disliked him and his methods, for aesthetic rather than for moral reasons, and the bulk of the people half-consciously felt this and refused to submit to their leadership.