City Influence Moves American Humor Towards French Wit, States Maurois

"American humor is steadily moving towards French wit," said Andre Maurois, distinguished French author and scholar, in an interview last night. "It is the influence of city life on American authors that is bringing this change, most evident in the humor of such typical publications as "The New Yorker," he continued.

That mutual appreciation of national humor is an essential to good international relations, Mr. Maurois held, was fully borne out by the improved understanding of England and France in the past twenty years. "Good humorous criticisms of the foibles of other nations are an excellent way of building international good will," he went on. "For instance the acceptance by the English of my humorous sketch on the English army after the war shows how much more one book can do than hours of diplomatic bickering. There is a crying need now for a sympathetic book by an American on France."

Lauds Anglo-French Relations

The relations between England and France he felt are now better than ever, because there is an understanding that has gone down to the masses. America is being increasingly drawn into this alliance both because of her common background and the fact that her future is insolubly wound up with the existence of the French Army and the English Navy.

The strength of this alliance, Maurois asserted, makes a serious European war an impossibility in the next twenty years, and the more closely the ties between these three nations are drawn, the more remote the possibility of war will become. Nothing will be more effective in strengthening them than an understanding of the essential humor of each nation.