Senators of both parties were accustomed to being consulted about political appointments and turned against Hayes. Foremost among his enemies was New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, who fought Hayes's reform efforts at every turn.[147]
To show his commitment to reform, Hayes appointed one of the best-known advocates of reform at the time, Carl Schurz, to be Secretary of the Interior and asked Schurz and Secretary of State William M. Evarts to lead a special cabinet committee charged with drawing up new rules for federal appointments.[148] Treasury Secretary John Sherman ordered John Jay to investigate the New York Custom House, which was stacked with Conkling's spoilsmen.[146] Jay's report suggested that the New York Custom House was so overstaffed with political appointees that 20% of the employees were expendable.[149]

A cartoon of Hayes kicking Chester A. Arthur out of the New York Custom House
Although he could not convince Congress to prohibit the spoils system, Hayes issued an executive order that forbade federal office holders from being required to make campaign contributions or otherwise taking part in party politics.