One of the first question which might be worth answering, as far as your question is concerned, is this: what exactly is a political machine?

A political machine was a political organization associated with a political party that was organized in order to mobilize voters for the political interests of its members. One of the most famous (and infamous) political machines was Tammany Hall in New York City, affiliated with the Democratic Party.

In practice, political machines tended to be one of the Industrial Age's major sources of social support for the urban poor and for immigrants. Machines assisted in providing jobs and assistance in times of need. This was all based in a kind of quid pro quo pragmatism (the purpose wasn't for the purpose of philanthropy, it was to ensure continued political support for the machine) but, in the context of the Industrial Age, political machines were among the few sources of assistance that the poor could actually turn to.

In addition, political machines generated a lot of corruption, as political power presented an opportunity for personal enrichment. Furthermore, one can point towards a history of election fraud, which machines could utilize to ensure a favorable result.

The political machines that dominated urban politics beginning in the Industrial Revolution had at least two somewhat distinct impacts on people and society.  One of these impacts was generally good while the other was not.

On the bad side, the urban political machines led to corruption.  They were famous for requiring those doing business with the city to pay bribes.  They were also famous for engaging in rather corrupt practices with respect to elections.  They would do things like buying votes or having people vote more than once.  It is said that in Chicago, nonexistent people or dead people “voted” when the machines needed more votes.  This was clearly not a good thing.

On the good side, the urban political machines provided needed help to the urban poor.  In those days, there were no governmental welfare programs.  Instead, the urban political machines provided those sorts of benefits to the poor on an ad hoc basis.  The poor would be given the sorts of help that they needed, but the help would be given on a personal basis by machine workers and the poor would be expected to then work for the machine (for example, by helping to get out the vote at election time).

So, the political machines provided needed welfare services, but did so at the expense of corrupting society.