Saturday Review of Literature (Sept. 6, 1924):

"Several Easterners, says the Reader's Guide, have come to the rescue of the reader who asked if anyone ever did try to 'change the name of Arkansas.' They are all hazy as to details, but seem to agree that the phrase comes from a smoking-room story in which the State Legislature in session is addressed by a 'city feller' who proposes to introduce a bill to change the pronunciation from ArkanSAW to ArKANsas...whereupon, says one correspondent, 'a lanky member from the backwoods rises and begins his famous speech in rhyme [sic], 'What! Change the Name of Arkansas?' no one sends the words, one explaining that it is 'quite too profane for print, though full of crude wit and humor.'"

The 1897 text of the "speech," of course, is not at all profane.