"Scofflaw" in Harvard Crimson (1923, 1924)

[bapopik at AOL.COM]

I'm going to add "scofflaw" to my web page. As usual, my notes in the old ADS-L archives are all unavailable...Note the "scoffing at the law" in October 1923.


http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=422468
Published on Thursday, October 11, 1923
TOO LIBATORY

No writer attributed



Although the University Glee Club has "washed its hands" of the double quartet whose rendition of "Johnny Harvard" called forth Mr. Delcevare King's criticism, it scarcely seems necessary for the college to disown these men. At the time when this and many other old Harvard songs were written Prohibition had not yet made the convivial board a rare and clandestine affair. A ban now on all such jolly old songs would be much like the absurd ban on the teaching of German in this country during the war.
If, perhaps, Mr. King would not have all such songs put out of everybody's reach, when would he have them sung? For the songs were written to be sung, not read, I pently if, by his interpretation of the American Bar Association's warning, singing "Johnny Harvard" after the debate was scoffing at the Prohibition Law, singing it anywhere would likewise be scoffing at the Law.
The song itself was written as a toast to Harvard, not "to glorify the joys of drinking". It happens, so ingrown are the bad habits of Americans, that at many a banquet toasts are still made and drunk, albeit necessarily in water or lemonade. It is quite likely that "Johnny Harvard" was sung with glasses in hand. Take away the wine from the banquet and the glasses from the song and the two cases are practically parellel-except that singing a toast in public is more attractive to the ear than speaking a toast in public.


http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=423683
Published on Wednesday, January 16, 1924
PAGE SENATOR SOUNDER

No writer attributed



After sifting 25,000 words submitted by more than 6000 contestants, Mr. Delcevare King of Quincy, staunch and ingenious disciple of Prohibition, has chosen the composite "scofflaw" as best describing those revolting, unregenerate citizens who delight in violating the Eighteenth Amendment. This word was selected because best of all it conjured up nauseating visions, true portraits of the lawbreakers, and suggested to every right-thinking person their deep and ignominious depravity. Just repeat "scofflaw" quietly several times; its deadly effect is immediately apparent. Anyone who applies the term to a fellow citizen will do well to follow the famous advice of "the Virginian",--"When you call me that--smile!"
Besides rendering the country the marked service of producing a cabalistic word eminently suited to turn bootleggers to stone and petrify rum-runners in their very tracks, Mr. King has set the fashion which undoubtedly will become popular of inventing expressive nick-names of sufficient repulsiveness to apply to nuisances and wrong-doors of every kind. If one is plagued by cigarette borrowers, one can wreak one's vengeance by calling them "ciggabars" or "gottabutts". Or if one's room mate insists on leaving the bath-room door open when the bed-room window is up, one might effectively insult him with the epithet "atmophile", or even in extreme cases "aerodome". The possibilities of this sort of thing are really unlimited. Mr. King little knows what potent forces he has unleashed.
But even if such new-coined words of opprobrium enjoy a short-lived popularity, it is probable that the good old monosyllabic terms of the Anglo-Saxon language will still retain their unquestioned away over man's emotions.



http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=423684
Published on Wednesday, January 16, 1924
"SCOFILAW" WILL MAKE LAWLESS DRINKER CRINGE
Delcevare King '95 Now Offers Another $200 Prize for Best Essay on Why the Imbiber Should Bear This Name

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"Scofflaw, n. One who drinks liquor made or obtained illegally."
The dictionary of the future will contain the above entry, if the popular imagination is captured by the winning word in the $200 contest which has been conducted recently by Delcevare King '95 for an epithet of bitter opprobrium applicable to a lawless drinker. From among over 25,000 words submitted by 6234 people, the winning term was chosen, according to the announcement of the award made last night by the judges.
Inspiration Hits Two at Once
This term occurred to two individuals as the one most appropriate name for the violator of the eighteenth amendment, so that it has been necessary to divide the $200 between the two originators, Henry Irving Dale of Andover, and Miss Kate L. Butler of Fields Corner. Despite the alleged unpopularity of the wets in the West and the many entries received from that section of the country, Massachusetts, the stronghold of anti-Volstead sentiment, has furnished the chosen epithet.
In order to popularize his new term, Mr. King stated that; coincident with the close of the old contest, a new one will begin, in which another $200 will be divided among the authors of the five best 100 word statements of why the drinker of illegal beverages should be called a "scofflaw". This second contest closes on January 31.



http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=423683
Published on Wednesday, January 16, 1924
PAGE SENATOR SOUNDER

No writer attributed



After sifting 25,000 words submitted by more than 6000 contestants, Mr. Delcevare King of Quincy, staunch and ingenious disciple of Prohibition, has chosen the composite "scofflaw" as best describing those revolting, unregenerate citizens who delight in violating the Eighteenth Amendment. This word was selected because best of all it conjured up nauseating visions, true portraits of the lawbreakers, and suggested to every right-thinking person their deep and ignominious depravity. Just repeat "scofflaw" quietly several times; its deadly effect is immediately apparent. Anyone who applies the term to a fellow citizen will do well to follow the famous advice of "the Virginian",--"When you call me that--smile!"
Besides rendering the country the marked service of producing a cabalistic word eminently suited to turn bootleggers to stone and petrify rum-runners in their very tracks, Mr. King has set the fashion which undoubtedly will become popular of inventing expressive nick-names of sufficient repulsiveness to apply to nuisances and wrong-doors of every kind. If one is plagued by cigarette borrowers, one can wreak one's vengeance by calling them "ciggabars" or "gottabutts". Or if one's room mate insists on leaving the bath-room door open when the bed-room window is up, one might effectively insult him with the epithet "atmophile", or even in extreme cases "aerodome". The possibilities of this sort of thing are really unlimited. Mr. King little knows what potent forces he has unleashed.
But even if such new-coined words of opprobrium enjoy a short-lived popularity, it is probable that the good old monosyllabic terms of the Anglo-Saxon language will still retain their unquestioned away over man's emotions.


http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=263917
Published on Tuesday, January 29, 1924
"FINE!" SAYS DELCEVARE KING OF ADVOCATE OFFER

No writer attributed



"That's fine! Let us turn on the light and get people thinking!" was the comment of Delcevare King '95 when informed of the Advocate's prize contest for the best word stigmatizing Drys.
Mr. King, whose own prize contest resulted in the dubbing of prohibition violators as "Scofflaws", went on to say: "People can poke fun at the idea that the violator of law is a menace to the government, but after all law is the basis of government. Keep the thing before the public--both sides of it. The more it is discussed, the sooner right will come out on top."
Despite his enthusiasm for the Advocate's contest, however, Mr. King offered no epithet with which to brand the "Anti-scofflaw".



http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=423942
Published on Friday, February 08, 1924
HARVARD PROVES DRIER THAN DELCEVARE KING
SO DESPERATE EDITORS RAISE THE ANTE

No writer attributed



The prize offered by the Editors of the Advocate to the person contributing the best word stigmatizing Drys has been raised from 10 dollars to 25 dollars.
In spite of the large number of suggestions already sent in, the Board feels that the increased award will attract many more. The contest is taking on a national aspect and a full expression of public opinion is desired. All the New England states have already been heard from as well as New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Texas, Florida, Colorado, the District of Columbia, and several provinces of Canada.
Among the 500 names now in the Editor's hands, the most popular seem to be "dry rot", "camelouse", and "dryad". But the sponsor of "scofflaw" comes in for his share of the scorn. A "Boston deb" has entered the word "Delcevare" as best stimulating a dry. She desires that the prize be held and awarded to the person writing the best essay on "Why it is a stinging insult to call a man Delcevare." Most of the entries, however, have come from married women and on all sorts of paper, some scrawled in pencil on scraps, others neatly written on the best grade of highly scented vellum.
Only ten suggestions have been received from the University thus far, and in hopes of obtaining more, the Advocate will take entries over the telephone daily except Saturday and Sunday from 5 to 6 o'clock in the evening, until the close of the contest on February 13.


http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=423980
Published on Wednesday, February 13, 1924
Delcevare King Shows Partiality to Alma Mater; $25 in Prize Money Has Already Been Snapped Up by Harvard Men

No writer attributed



Mr. Delcevare King '95, whose notorous "scofflaw" contest brought him national praise and approbrium, is now engaged in announcing the winners of his subsequent prize offers for the best statements on why a "scofflaw" is aptly denominated by that term.
This operation requires time. Yesterday Mr. King gave out the names of the winners of his five special prizes, today he announces the fifth and fourth prize-winners, tomorrow will occur the climax of the release of the names of those who have captured third, second, and first places. In this way ample publicity is to be secured.
No less than $25 of the $80 already distributed has gone to Harvard graduates. Yesterday came the word that the Rev. Charles Newell St. John '08 of Montpelier, Vermont is one of the five special prize winners. Today the winner of fourth place is announced as Mr. Ellery H. Clark '96 of Boston.
Mr. Clark's statement concludes as follows: "The Scofflaw, most emphatically, does not 'Play the Game'. The Umpire, the American Nation, has ruled that Prohibition is 'safe', and that the drinker is 'out'. But the Scofflaw refuses to accept the Umpire's ruling. To hell with America!' he snarls, "I've got to have my drink!"
"Behold him a skulker; a non-American; a 'poor sport'; lacking the man hood to play the Game.'"




http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=424014
Published on Thursday, February 14, 1924
Communication
A Rebuke

No writer attributed



(The CRIMSON invites all men in the University to submit signed communications of timely interest. It assumes no responsibility, however, for sentiments expressed under this head and reserves the right to exclude any whose publication would be palpably inappropriate.)
To the Editor of the CRIMSON:
I want to point out that the word scofflaw was coined to stigmatize only those wets who advocate breaking or who do themselves break the law of the country. If a man conscientiously believes that the modification of the Volstead Act or the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment would be for the good of his country, and yet respects the law while it is on the books, the word scofflaw would in no way apply to him. Scofflaw is meant to stigmatize a certain class of lawbreakers, and this purpose is entirely legitimate.
On the other hand, the competition which the Advocate is running is directed against a certain class of people only because they hold conscientious opinions. A scofflaw is no more the opposite of a dry than he is the opposite of a law-abiding wet. Thus this competition cannot possibly be considered an answer to Mr. Delcevare King's. It is but the beginning of a mud-slinging contest between wets and drys, and as such I do not think it ought to have the support of the CRIMSON which is a paper that should be above participating in such contests. --Horr Rooxey Gaulf '26


http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=424044
Published on Friday, February 15, 1924
King Favors Fellow-Townsman

No writer attributed



Delcevare King '95, continuing his policy of releasing one by one the names of the prize-winners in his second "scofflaw" contest, yesterday announced that second prize, in the shape of $50, has gone to the Rev. William Nicholl, a fellow-citizen of Quincy. The winner of first prize will be named today.


http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=424064
Published on Saturday, February 16, 1924
Communication
Another View

No writer attributed



(The CRIMSON invites all men in the University to submit signed communications of timely interest. It assumes no responsibility, however, for sentiments expressed under this head and reserves the right to exclude any whose publication would be palpably inappropriate.)
To the Editor of the CRIMSON:
As much as I abhor giving any publicity whatsoever to that sterling citizen, Mr. Delcevare King, I should like to bring out one point which seems to have been overlooked in all these discussions over that admirable word "scofflaw", Mr. King's great claim to fame.
In my mind, Prohibition is one of those unfortunate statutes which has tended to turn this country into a law-breaking rather than a law-abiding land. Moreover, those narrow-minded persons who refuse to see both sides of this question, instead of being the country's greatest patriots, as they delight in terming themselves, are merely hopelessly trying to have enforced without limitation a decree which has caused more law-abiding citizens to become, legally, criminals, and more criminals, actually, to become wealthy and influential men than any other law in the history of the country, to put it mildly.
A scofflaw, may not be at heart a law breaker: it may be that he is a person who will not give his support to a law which makes honest men criminals and which tends to disrupt national peace. It is not that I support those who scoff at prohibition: it is, rather, that I have no sympathy for those reforming zealots who merely antagonize men of a wider outlook and deeper perspective by looking, as Kipling puts it, "too good" and talking "too wise". CARL RIMSEY HEUSSY '26.




http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=424057
Published on Saturday, February 16, 1924
"SCOFFLAW" PRIZE ESSAYIST GOT TRAINING AT HARVARD

No writer attributed



Mr. Harold Bisbee '00 is the honored recipient of $100 in gold representing first prize in the "Scofflaw" Contest. His essay was one of the few submitted that would have won approval from the English Department, and perhaps he has his Harvard education to thank for that.
The winning essay, made public this morning for the first time, contains little that is new. Its chief merit is the apt summary of Mr. Delcevare King's views. "The willingness with which obedience responds to enforcement is the acid test of true democracy," says Mr. Bisbee, in the course of his arguments to prove that the lawless should be abhorred as a "Scofflaw".


http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=171877
Published on Monday, February 18, 1924
Communication
"Compliments of the Author"

No writer attributed



(The CRIMSON invites all men in the University to submit signed communications of timely interest. It assumes no responsibility, however, for sentiments expressed under this head and reserves the right to exclude any whose publication would be palpably inappropriate.)
To the Editor of the CRIMSON:
It is a satisfaction to read Mr. Hoyt Rodney Gale's searching communication.
The issue is no longer Wet or Dry, but Law or Lawlessness, and the basis of all the Contest and my effort is to bring home to the lawless drinker that he is aiding in violating the law, and as such is, in the words of President Harding, "a menace to the Republic itself".
The greatest domestic problem before our Nation today is "Shall the Constitution of the United States be obeyed?" The Scofflaw says "No!"
Yours for stabbing awake the conscience of the Scofflaw, and the general conscience too, DELCEVARE KING.
P. S.--Allow me to congratulate you on the spirit of fair play you show in publishing Mr. Gale's communication.