Did political machines help or hurt city-dwellers?

One can, of course, argue both sides of this question and
the answer might be different for different groups of city-dwellers.  I would argue that
the political machines like Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall were good for poor immigrants but
bad for much of the rest of the population of the
city.

Political machines essentially bought votes from the
poor and immigrants.  They bought the votes with city jobs, with informal welfare
payments, and with other sorts of financial and in-kind help.  By doing these things,
they provided a great deal of support for the poor immigrants who made up so much of
American cities in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

However,
someone had to pay for these votes and for the corrupt practices of the political
machines.  Those who paid were generally the middle class.  It was their tax money that
was used to buy the votes.  In addition, they were the ones who had to pay higher prices
to make up for the bribes that businesses had to pay to machine bosses.  One way or
another, most of the money that was going to help the poor was coming from the pockets
of the middle class.

Therefore, I would argue that the
political machines helped the poor at the expense of the middle
class.