When a political force wins the elections, the leaders tend to appoint people from their own political party to do certain jobs in the public sphere. This is done to guaratee that their policies and their power will remain intact. The party will strenghten their power in this way. However, the person chosen to fill in those jobs will lose them if a new political force takes over.
This refers to officials who have been voted, so they will lose their jobs if a new political force wins.
This is an example to illustrate the explanation above.
In Books IV and V, Jim describes what happens to various of the hired girls. Through this narrative voice, Cather subtly critiques the various definitions of success, as embodied in the fates of the different immigrant women.
