| Show Is it if nom de plume or nickname s anyway you can t f print that 1 A southern state senator has introduced a bill prohibiting the publication of a different namo name and if this measure should become a law it if moans a Ho headache Hoad adache acho for choso who try to figure out tho the answer to the question what Is libelous and why by ELMO SCOTT WATSON there was introduced R RECENTLY trod legislature in the mississippi senate bill no which was entitled an act making it actionable per so se for an editor or business manager of any newspaper magazine or periodical to print or allow to be printed in his newspaper magazine or periodical a nom de plume or DIf different Terent name than the real or true name of said person if said person had prior to that time Noti notified fled the said editor or business man agor ager in writing his real or true name I 1 the text of this bill reads as follows SECTION 1 BE IT ENACTED BY THE legislature OF THE STATE OF mississippi that any editor or business manager of a new newspaper r magazine or other periodical who shall print or allow to be printed printe d in his newspaper magazine or other periodical a nom do plume or different name direct explanatory or otherwise than the true or real name of the person provided said person had prior to that time notified said editor or business manager in writing his real or true name shall be liable in damages to said person the publication li of said nom do de plume or different name being actionable per se elx 2 pak M laws in vio lot lauon on of this act are hereby repealed but it Is only supplementary to other othe r laws not in violation of this act SECTION 3 that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage if this measure should become a law its going to mean a headache tor for the editor or business manager of any newspaper magazine or periodical when he tries to decide the kind of names he can print without being guilty of libel of course its easy to shy away from norn nom de plumes for he knows what they are all he has to do is to look in the dictionary and there it is defined tor for him literally a pen name a name assumed by an author a pseudonym if he know what pseudonym means he can look that up tao and learn that 1 it means a fictitious name assumed I 1 for the time as by an author a pen name but just what is meant by different names direct explanatory or otherwise does it mean a nickname which mr webster defines as a name given instead of the one belonging to a person r place pace or thing usually descriptive find given in sport or was it a 11 s sobriquet ob riquet which the same authority says is an assumed name a fanciful epithet or appe lation he also says that a sobriquet bri is a nickname which brings us right back to where we start edl according to press dispatches 1 senator frank harper a lawyer labye and author of this bill has been referred to in some newspapers as senator peachtree salesman harper because of his former occupation so he may have had lift MARK TWAIN both nicknames and in fit mind when he added different name direct explanatory or otherwise to norn nom de plume it if its lecause ot of that thet the mississippi senator is different from other famous americans aiu i jolted jol ced in nicknames indicative of their occupations the first one that comes to mind is jonathan chapman he won immortality under the nickname of johnny Appl eseed because he went up and down the land in the early part of the nineteenth cc cen n lary giving away apple seeds so that settlers could plant them and assure themselves and their children of having plenty of apples even though it is doubtful if henry clay ever served as an ap 0 western newspaper union sa JOHNNY miller he apparently was willing enough to have his partisans hall hail him as the mill boy of the slashes and to make political capital out of that name no less than six of our presidents have rejoiced in nicknames reminiscent of their occupations there was abraham lincoln the rail splitter andrew johnson the tailor president james A garfield the teacher president theodore roosevelt the rough rider woodrow wil son the professor president and herbert hoover the great engineer As for the other chief executives nicknames undoubtedly played an important part in helping some of them win the presidency and in perpetuating their fame long after their deaths especially was this true when the affectionate adjective old was incorporated in the nickname as witness old man eloquent john quincy adams old hickory andrew jackson old tippecanoe william henry harrison old rough and ready zachary taylor old public functionary I 1 james buchanan and old abe abraham lincoln in fact not a president in the years of our history has escaped having a nickname even though not all of them were affectionate or even complimentary for instance martin van buren uren the wily new york politician won the nicknames of the little M magician agi clan and the red fox early in his career and both of those names stuck with him through his presidency john tyler Is remembered chiefly as the accidental president and james K polk as the dark horse president though some of his followers tried to popularize young hickory to indicate that the mantle of andrew jackson had descended upon his fellow andrew johnson the tailor president was also called sir veto because of his frequent use of the veto power during the disputes with congress which led eventually to the attempt to impeach him and drive him from the white house rutherford B hayes was the president de facto with its insinuation that his opponent tilden was actually elected but cheated out of the office by the electoral commission besides being the teacher president james A garfield like james K polk was also a dark horse president ent the courtly chester A arthur was known both as our chet and the first gentleman of the land democrats called grover A cleveland the man of destiny republicans RepublIc arts called him the stuffed prophet benjamin harrison grandson of old tippecanoe pe canoe had two nicknames neither very cry complimentary to him they were son of his grandfather and little ben besides these nicknames some of which helped their bearers reach the white house american history is filled with different names direct explanatory or otherwise which seem to further political ambitions henry clay harry of the west and the great compromiser james G blaine the plumed knight and william jennings bryan the great commoner and the silver tongued orator of the platte longed for the presidency and longed in vain to a certain extent the same Is true of stephen A douglas th the little giant gen john C fremon mont the pathfinder daniel webster black dan and the expounder of the constitution gen winfield scott old fuss and feathers and gen george B mcclallan little mac and the young napoleon besides teddy roosevelt only three other vice presidents have ever emerged from thi the ob security of their office enough to win a nickname which was widely known they were sunny jim sherman Sherm nn hell and maria dawes and cactus jack gornor gorner Sp speaking enking of picturesque figures and their nicknames no list would bo be complete without mention of such men as jerry simpson congressman from kansas and a presidential candidate on the peoples ticket pitchfork den tillman senator from south carolina the man bilbo of mississippi and huey long the kingfish of louisiana whether or not william 11 murray is successful in his attempt to stage a comeback alfalfa dill bill is not likely to bo be forgotten soon at least not in oklahoma all of which suggests that any attempt to enforce a law which would prohibit the uso use of nicknames would probably meet with the same difficulties of enforcement that other laws have for the american people seem to like nicknames for their public charn characters eters so it is difficult to visualize a jury of americans holding on an editor or business manager guilty of libel for publishing a persons nickname even it if said person had prior to that time noti notified fled said editor or business manager in writing of his real or true name As for the prohibition against publishing nom do plumes what author who uses one is ever likely to notify an editor not to print it not danyl many I 1 of course it if an editor interpreted literally such a law as this proposed mississippi statute and barred norn nom de plumps plumes from his columns through fear of a possible libel suit remote though that possibility might be there would be some curious re 0 f t 0 V JERRY SIMPSON suits perhaps it if he announced that he was going to reprint a story by samuel L clemens just as many people would be interested in scein seeing g it as would be if ho he announced that the forthcoming story was by mark twain but what about a thrilling wild west yarn by edward zone zane carroll judson that name mean much to the average american but if he said it had been written by ned buntline well different I 1 for many a man would remember his boyhood days when he read in a dime novel how another redskin bit the dust and he would remember too that the man who wrote that thrill thriller ee was ned buntline or perhaps its a short story by william sidney porter that the editor Is going to reprint who cares but a yarn by that master of the tha short story 0 henry again different would his readers perk up their ears if told that they were to have the opportunity of reading a new murder mystery by willard huntington wright a humorous travel book by georgo S chappell or a novel by dickran Kouyou kouyoumjian injian not so much as they would it if the authors of those books were listed as S S van dine dr walter waller E Trap ruck and michael arlen respectively prohibit the mention of nom de plumes regardless of that provided said person etc and you bar from print references to such famous humorists as ell EH perkins josh billings artemus ward bill arp petroleum V nasby john phoenix and abe martin and how many americans are familiar with tho the real names of those men melville D london landon henry W sha shaw W charles F browne charles henry smith david R locke george horatio derby and kin hubbard such a prohibition would substitute joseph konrad for joseph conrad minnie mackay for marie corelli Corel ll ray stannard baker for david grayson jacques anatole for anatole france mary evans cross across for george ellot eliot alice french for octave thanet louise de la in ramee for aulda and so on almost indefinitely 0 AV 13 0 kj va NED BUNTLINE 11 A prohibition against tile the use of nicknames would work a greater hardship on sports writers and sports fans than any other class of people call the roll of heroes in the sports world during the past year and see how dull and drab would seem the record without mention of white gabby hartnett schoolboy rowe 44 dizzy dean and sling in sam baugh since baseball is the national pastime naturally it hos has contributed tri the greater number of nicknames which have become household words christy mathewson is dead but the memory of so matty and the big six remains george herman ruth has retired but mention babe or bambino or the sultan of swat and almost any american will know who you you mean then there was the georgia peach whom you probably recall even if you dont remember tyrus raymond cobb and the peerless leader the old roman the miracle man and muggsy it if youve forgotten frank L chance charles comiskey george stallings and john J mcgraw cornelius is his real name although millions know him as connie mack but how many know the first names of rabbit maranville rajah hornsby Il hack lack wilson and chief bender football has furnished some great individual stars of course but for some reason or other popular u lar nicknames never clung to them that is until one harold grange streaked across gridiron history and left behind him the titles of the galloping ghost the red rover or just red team nicknames however have been popular and more enduring who will soon forget the four horsemen of notre dame or the praying colonels of center college virtually every college has its nickname based upon tile the colors of the school or some animal mascot but few enjoy the picturesque descriptive names such as aa the golden T tornado ornado of georgia tech the green wave of tulane or the thundering herd of the university of southern california I 1 also has its long roll of nicknames beginning with the great and one and only john L 5 41 1 V 4 g ALFALFA BILL MURRAY sullivan for whom john L 11 was sufficient to identify him at any time although he was also known as the boston strong boy 0 pugilism has also known the following james J corbett gen aleman jim bob fitzsimmons ruddy bob or the kangaroo jack johnson lil artha sam langford the boston tar baby 4 battling Nel soi the durable dane harry grob greb the pittsburgh windmill fred fulton the plastered plasterer broo jess willard the M man n mountain mounta 1 n or r the P pottawatomie 0 tt 0 w a tomi 0 giant john harrison dempsey the manassa mauler georges carpentier Car the orchid man louis angel firpo the wild bull of the pampas and nd more recently joe louis barrow the brown bomber |
