Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-05-27
A Ouestlon Of Accent.

A Question Of Accent.
A good many innocent Republicans in
,ancaster county. hearing that the Re-
ormers have triumphed At the recent &C.
ection of party candidates for the fat
,eices of the court house, are i'm
.lined to be very much gratified thersat,
,ut find q stumbling block in the way in
that the Reformers OF to-
lay have changed places with the Re-
formers of a year or two ago and they
lon't quite see how their accomplished
Mr.. Levi Sensenig, can be the
honest champion of Reform to-day, con-
lending with that other valiant chief
tain, Mr.. Elias McMellen, who leads the |
men and things that need to be reformed,
while on the last occasion on which the
Republicans aforesaid were
called upon to array themselves under
the banner OF these leaders by the re-
spective invOcatiOns of the Ncu Era
and Examiner, Elias was the Reformer
battling by the side Of the Ne~ Era and
Geist, while Levi was the man to be re-
formed along with Jack Hiestand and the
Examiner fellows.
One distinct fact, however, forces itself
upon the Republicans aforesaid; which
is that Geist and the Ne,c Era are
aluays with the RefOrmers. That at
first sight seems to prove their virtuue.
Yet on further reflection on the subject
by the innocent and contemplative Re-
pubIicans they remember that they only
have the NeU Era's wOrd'f for it that its
allies and itself are Reformers, and
remembering that the same authority de-
clared, year or two ago, that its pres
ent allies were not Ref0rmers they
reason that, perhaps, since it was SO
much mistaken about its allies, it may
be mistaken about itself, and that there
fore its word that it is always for Reform
is not entitled to much weight. And in
this connection the recollection arises
Of various political performances of both
the editor and the publisher of the NeU
Era in their active acrObatic careers,
we'll calculated to still further confuse
the ideas of the innocent Republican
upon a reform which has such apostles.
But the whole matter is very simple.
1t is purely an error of accentuation into
which the innocent Republicans have
fallen. The Ne,c Eros reform has the
accent placed upon the "e," and the
syllables of which the word is COM
pounded should be pronounced sepa-
rately rs though written reform
meaning to form again. The re-
form which the innocent Republicans
have in their mind is made up of
the same syllables and originally meant
the same-simply to form anew. But
as good and sensible people, when they
form thing anew, seek to improve it,
the word reform has come to mean this
and to signify change for the better,
not simply change.
But very often it is a delusion and a
snare. Very often to reform is not to
reform. The kind of reformation t0
which the Lancaster county Republicans
are invited by their reformers is the re-
forming and not the reforming kind. II
you put the accent right you will get the
idea. There is no difference in the ap.
pearance of the words and we can't print
them differently. The Ne,c Era, being
conducted by eminently worthy mem.
bers of the church, don t lie when it says
it is for reform now with Levi Sen.
senig, who is the model reformer, and
didn't lie when it said it was for reform
when it was with Elias McMelien who
was the model reformer, although Levi
and Elias all the time were on different
sides. Its readers simply didn't read il
Alright. They were simply innocent
perhaps STUPID.
We take pity on them and enlighten
them. But what an awful task it is to
inform these Republicans and how
hopeless is reform among them. The
New Era style of reformers have posses.
sion of the party everywhere. The outs
want to 'form anew" to get in and they
are the reformers. They will reform
anything for the leaves and fishes. There
Is that man, Malone, for instance, who
has just got into the Republican party
for bread; he is reformer ;
he wants to reform the debt of
Virginia-re-adjust is his word
80 as to cheat its creditors. Mr..
Malone is model reformer of the rag
ing Republican type, and SO are Garfield
and COnkling and Blaine, and all the
other spoils seekers who are reforming
things 50 viciOusly aud bidding fair to
smash their party in the undertaking :;
which would be reform indeed. Our
local reformers may achieve the same
result after awhile, when their innocent
constituents come to fully comprehend
the nature and extent of their reform
principles.
Ranging at Blaine.
Ever since the existing difficulties be-
tween Conkling and the administration
began, and more especially in the pres
ent canvass at Albany, the New York
stalwarts have given out that their quar-
rel is more with Blaine than Garfield :;
and the apparent duplicity of the latter,
RObertson's appointment, and other
sources of difficulty, they lay to Blaine's
a a n