The Lexington Advertiser

The newspapers of the country are facing a serious problem. The supply of news-print paper is steadily diminishing and the rate of consumption continues to exceed the capacity of the mills. There has been an advance of more than a cent a pound in news-print within the past thirty days. But this is not the worst feature of the situation. The smaller papers are having a hard time securing a supply at any price, and some of them may have to suspend publication. Publishers are urged to reduce the size of their papers, where possible, and to curtail the volume of reading matter so that it will not exceed the number of columns of advertising in any one issue. In other words, the newspaper which has eight pages of advertising can run eight pages of reading matter. If it has only three pages of advertising, then it should run only three pages of reading matter. Otherwise the publisher may be placed on the unfair list, and will be able to buy no paper at any price. Newspapers are also urged to issue only as many copies as they have paid-in-advance subscribers, with a reasonable allowance for street sales. It is largely for this reason that most daily papers are placing their circulation on a strictly cash-in-advance basis.--Laurel Leader.