Evening star., 1922-10-25
Of Course, Clarence Has Every
Right to Fight.

A certain writer, rather better known
than most, once propounded the query
whats in a manner To which, quite
recently. the St. Louis Post Dispatch re-
plies, nothing but the name itself.
But when the name under consideration
is Clarence. a powerful, fighting organi-
cation of outstanding, two-fisted men
will be ready to tell the world that
whatever there may be in that name.
at least there's nothing funny IN II.
That is. if Mr.. Clarence Massey OF
Cleveland, Ohio, receives sufflclentiy
enthusiastic response to his call Tor the
founding of the Clarence Antl-Deiama-
ton League" from all the men IN tnr
country who are written into the 1an'iis
record as Clarence.
Men have fought and died to protect
their good names" the Decatur Herald
reminds us, but that has meant m
variably their surnames; Now ohI
man is out to protect MS oaptisiiai
name from the stigma that vaudeville
monologists and comic strippers have
given it. And while the statement OF
the Providence Tribune to the effect
that the protective organization WNiei.
he proposes will cause ripple OF
amusement to flow through every edi-
torial mage in the country is perhaps
rlv through many such pages some
,ow or other" the Tribune explains
"the name of Clarence has become con
nected with a definite sort OF personal
ity; namely, a sissy. which is the yer
nacular for an effeminate man. How the
name and the personality ever became
so inextricably combined would make
an excellent thesis for doctors de-
gree" p.u.,,,,o
1t is unexplainable. the Philadelphia
Public Ledger contends, the American
.ense of humor has decided that there
is something comic about the names
Clarence. Percy and Rollo. just as 1t mas
decided that mothers n-law are esSens
tiallv humorous" But, the paper goes
on to say, 1.-The real joke Is that THESE
so-called sissfied names are tne ol1
fighting names. When parent named
his son Clarence or Percy 1t was sure
thing that the old man expected his son
70 he a bear-cat. AS for Rolo, sure
fire laugh if named in any vaudeville
sketch, it comes down to us from ina.
able and bloodthirsty pirate Ro'.o OF
Normandy, the terror of the seas.
Yet such has been the odium which
the great American sense of humor mas
attached to these names that the BROOK :
lyn Eagle thinks "the gentle heart must
throb a bit in sympathy with the child
who. without his knowleoge OF COZ
sent. is named Clarence, or Aiphonse'
or Obadiah, or even Kenesaw Mountain
public schools will make him vicarlous
atonement for the indiscretions of an
cestors even to the third and fourth
genera ations for names are in sense
Inherited. If genius, persistence, capac-
ity for work overcome the handicap, he
deserves more credit than any John or
William among his schoolmates ana
later commercial competitors"
AS for the Cleveland News, it "ad-
mires the clan of outstanding and two
fnr fha
tered through all these years. The
iokers had their fling for a generation
or so, If the alleged joke could do any
good it had ample opportunity. :. We
seen no reason why every indignant
eligible should not rally enthusiastically
around the banner of the Clarence Anti
Defamation League-unless. indeed, the
| G. A. D. organization is but the closest
approach to a real Joke ever associated
with the noble and virile name Of Clar-
ence"
what the Milwaukee paper calls "the
Clarence bloc" what, asks the Hartford
Times, Of the example to all the other
submerged minorities? What OF the
men who wear flannels in the winter,
and the ministers sons, and the people
who extend the little finger when they
drink tea. and the men who wear rub
bers, and the girls who think it Is 'un-
womanly' to smoke cigarettes, and the
people who don't play bridge? If the
sons Of people who didn't have sense
enough to name their children within
the field bounded on on tn the u,,9,n north by 2s
to demand their rights in a free repub-
lie. shall these others be ignored?:'",
Sooner or later. the Times feels. will
come "a great society known as the
Insignificant Minority Protective Asso-
ciation." and when enough Of these ese
world will Of course be better place
to live in. We have the Ku Klux Klan
already. and look how things have I'M
proved!'
One voice, however, is lifted in pro-
test against the Clarence Anti -Dafama-
other side even to this problem. The
Waterbury Republican doesn't see why
an outstanding. two-fisted Clarence
needs to worry about his name. To do
SO suggests to the paper "a lack OF
faith in his own two-fistedness" or
possibly an inferiority complex produced
by "brooding over the Jokes he has
heard in the vaudeville houses" The only