While he was criticized by the friends of Civil Service Reform for not going far enough during his presidency to protect the encroachments of those who desire to have the offices distributed as political rewards or for partisan ends, such specific acts as his transference to the classified service of all fourth-class postmasters east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio rivers, his insistence upon a thorough investigation of the scandals in the Post Office department, and his order forbidding federal employes to use their offices for political purposes in the campaign of 1908 are typical of his vigorous support of the merit system.
For some reason - perhaps because Bismarck did not entirely trust him - he did not at this time attain quite so influential a position as might have been anticipated; nevertheless he was chairman of the parliamentary committee which in 1876 drafted the new rules of legal procedure, and he found scope for his great administrative abilities in the post of burgomaster of Osnabruck.
He found a vehicle for his criticism in the Post och Inrikes Tidningar, of which he was editor.
In September 1881 the term of office of president Pinto expired, and he was succeeded in the post of chief executive of Chile by President Domingo Santa Maria.
The election for the position of president of the republic was closely contested in 1896 between Senor Errazuriz and Senor Reyes, and ended in the triumph of the former candi of the new president had been chief magistrate of Chile from 1871 to 1876, and his administration had been one of the best the country had ever enjoyed; his son had therefore traditions to uphold in the post he was now called upon to fill.
