Bureau of Internal Revenue

While I was watching The Honeymooners (a great show that doesn't seem dated), I noticed that Ralph was talking about the "Bureau of Internal Revenue." I'd never heard that name: we say "IRS" which stands for "Internal Revenue Service."

But apparently, they changed their name in the 1950's (the same decade that "The Honeymooners" was on the air). According to the IRS site: "In the 50s, the agency was reorganized to replace a patronage system with career, professional employees. The Bureau of Internal Revenue name was changed to the Internal Revenue Service."

Yikes--what kind of patronage system did they have? Sounds like how Chicago's been run.