It is an acknowledged truism that advertising is the life blood of any newspaper. It pays by far the greater portion of the publication cost. Without it, no paper could be published unless it vastly increased its subscription rates and the price of each single copy.

Less obvlous at first glance but clearly discernible after brief study are the benefits accruing to the general public nas a result of advertising.

Consumers have learned to depend upon advertised products. Greater sales volume places proportionately greater responsibility upon the manufacturer, who must make his products live up to the advertising claims or face obliteration. Advertising results in lower costs because of this increase in sales volume, and because of the competition it instills. In the long run, it can be seen that advertising is as beneficial to general public as it is to the advertisers, or to advertising media such as newspapers.

Therefore, it is appropriate that this fifth day of our imaginary tour of The News building, in observance of National Newspaper Week, should take us in the advertising departments.

Separate Ad Departments

At The News office, advertising is handled by two separate departments - "Classified" and "Display." The classified advertisements are confined to one section of the paper and are itemized in accordance with their content, such as help wanted, articles for sale, and apartments for rent. There haven't been many in this last - named category in recent months but those in the first - named classification - help wanted - have broken all records.

Display advertising is handled by a separate force of five employees, who operate their own department on the second floor. This department arranges contracts for specific amounts of newspaper space devoted to the advertisers' messages. These contracts can be for a single issue of the newspaper, for a series of weekly advertisements, or for a whole year.

The individual display advertisements range from a single column inch to a full page. Half pages are frequently used by local business men, such as department stores and food markets. National advertising for such products as gasoline, new automobiles, cigarets and washing machines also occupies considerable space in the average daily issue. Such advertising is handled to a large extent by a national agency, but it all goes through The News' own advertising department.

Not long ago this department won national acclaim for promotion of full - page sponsored advertisements dedicated to the sale of War Bonds during the 7th War Loan. As reported as soon as the records were available, The News ranked first in New York State - among papers of all sizes and classifications - for the total amount of advertising lineage devoted to the bond drive. It ranked eighth in the entire nation.