 Marshall was inaugurated as Governor of Indiana on January 11 , 1909 . Since his party had been out of power for many years , its initial objective was to appoint as many Democrats as possible to patronage positions . Marshall tried to avoid becoming directly involved in the patronage system . He allowed the party 's different factions to have positions and appointed very few of his own choices . He allowed Taggart to manage the process and pick the candidates , but signed off himself on the official appointments . Although his position on patronage kept peace in his party , it prevented him from building a strong political base . 
