A man that'd expict to thrain lobsters to fly in a year is called a loonytic; but a man that thinks men can be tur-rned into angels by an iliction is called a rayformer an' remains at large.

Finley Peter Dunne put this sentiment into the mouth of his Irish-bartender persona, Mr. Dooley, in the late-19th/early-20th-century newspaper columns that satirized American politics and “reform” movements. Written in phonetic Irish-American dialect, the line reflects Dooley’s recurring skepticism about moral uplift achieved through politics—especially the idea that elections or legislation can quickly transform human nature. Dunne was writing amid the Progressive Era’s ferment (civil service reform, temperance, anti-corruption campaigns, labor conflict), when “reformers” often promised sweeping ethical change through political victories. The joke contrasts obviously impossible expectations with socially respectable political idealism.

The quip mocks a double standard in how society labels unrealistic hopes. Training lobsters to fly is plainly absurd and earns the dreamer the stigma of madness; believing that an election can turn flawed people into “angels” is, for Dooley, equally fanciful but is praised as “reform.” Dunne’s point is not that reform is worthless, but that politics cannot substitute for character, incentives, and institutions; elections change officeholders and policies, not human nature. The dialect humor sharpens the critique: lofty moral rhetoric can be another kind of superstition, socially rewarded because it flatters civic ideals.