[3] As state geologist, he was brought into contact with the spoils system, to which his opposition was so uncompromising — he refused, even at the request of members of the state legislature, to remove competent assistants for political reasons — that he finally lost his position in 1893 when the Governor of Kentucky finally refused the support Procter which had received from that office in the past.

Procter's criticism of the spoils system was based not only on its evil moral and social effects, but also on its absurdity as a method of conducting business.

His work as president of the commission was the means of increasing the effectiveness of the civil service, and of gaining for it recognition in political life.

Procter served as a member of the Jury of Awards at the Chicago World's Fair, and was a frequent contributor to magazines and journals on geologic, economic, international and political subjects.

He died of angina pectoris on December 12, 1903, while at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., where he was attending the annual meeting of the National Civil Service Reform League.