the language of the act provided for penalties but no actual enforcement method; no federal election committee or similar body yet existed to enforce the provisions. there were no existing disclosure requirements for candidates accepting contributions, and so there was no effective way to enforce the new law. the act applied to general elections, but not primary elections. in the south, the grip of the democratic party was absolute, and so the primary election was the most important contested race. further, a corporation could circumvent the law by directing its officers or directors to make personal contributions to a candidate, which were not prohibited, and then simply give them bonuses at year end to effectively reimburse them for those contributions. the tillman act was therefore simply a first step towards regulation of campaign finance. additional steps would be taken by congress in the disclosure provisions of the publicity act of 1910 (also known as the federal corrupt practices act), and the extension of the tillman act to primary elections in the 1911 amendments to the tillman and publicity acts.