"When testifying before a senate committee investigating his behavior, he said, "I got that patronage from the sheriff, the county clerk, the county treasurer, all the clerks of the different courts, the State administration ... It rarely happened ... that any appointments of any kind, big or little, were made in the section of the city in which I lived without my recommendation." Lorimer also owned a number of businesses that did contracting for the city, and through a process of what he suggested was "honest graft" managed to accumulate considerable wealth. His machine, like those in other cities, catered to the interests of the huge number of immigrants and working-class voters who were flocking into the city to work in its new industries."