The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-09-10

pTOporIOn Oh nuinof 10 the proportion Oh
information must ever be delicate. Humor,
by itself, must ever be unpopular. It's
true purpose is to act as a leaven.
And thus we see the proprietors of sue
cessful humorous ESQ called) periodicals
recognizing, one might say subconsciously
this rule. One is reminded of that old
anecdote of the one time editor of Punch
when fellow guest at dinner table
asked him if he ever got anything good
for his paper.
"Oh dear. yes" was the reply.
Then" said the other, why don't you
publish it?"
For over a period of quarter of a
century when, in an editorial capacity, i
was connected with Life, we made it rule
never to make any strained effort to get
into the paper anything humorous, and it
became venerable joke with us that some
day or other we would issue humorous
number. To secure ones audience one must
always depend on much more stable things
We see Punch constantly publishing the
most serious things. For example one of
the most moving poems of the war@("In
Flanders Fields'') was published in Punch,
humor in Punch than in any other periodi-
GAIA large proportion of its cartoons are
quite serious.
The same thing is true, as 1. have briefly
indicated. of Life, the intention being, as
far as possible, to make of it reflex,
pictorial presentation of what is going on
In spite of everything that is said to the
contrary, there are many signs among us
showing that our public taste is improving:
al. over the country, in every community
there is small but increasing body of
readers who are really concerned with
what they are thinking about And this is
the audience that is becoming more under
standing in its appreciation, in~the subtle
distinction of words and in the value of
contrast, both of which go to make up SO
largely the technique of the first class
writer who uses humor in the right way.
What is such great pity is that there
are among us so many so called profess
sional humorists who work as if the manu-.
facture of humor was really a trade, where
as it is only a byproduct, and so many
other writers, who possess actual knowl-
edge and who have no humor to go with it
are giving us SO many dull books on science
and history which would be so much more
palatable If leavened with humor. But
even here it is a pleasure to record a recent
example of what can be so well done in
between these two extremes; refer to
Mr.. Hendrick Wilem Van Loans admirable
STORY of Mankind"-a perfect Illustration
of the value of genuine humor when mixed
in the right proportions with genuine
knowledge
AS to whether America has a sense of
just as it is doubtful whether any country
has. We are so likely to use blanket words
to express ideas that must of necessity be
limited in their application. That very
small proportion of people all over the
world have sense OF humor may be true;
but we are here again in difficulty, because
the thing we term a sense of humor is
only combination of imagination and in
sight-the ability to perceive contrasts. In
his introduction to Mr.. Leacock's book Sir
Owen Seaman, the editor of Punch, perhaps
disposes of the matter as well as it can
ever be disposed of when he says that
English and American humorists have not
always seen eye to eye. When we fail to
appreciate their humor they say we are
too dull and effete to understand it; and
when they do not appreciate ours they say
we haven't got any,"
Frances war Premier Viviani, in his
book THE Mistakes of the Kaiser" which