Reader's Digest

Our January Reader's Digest came the other day as it has for the past few months. We have no memory of subscribing to it but maybe it came along with one we did order. The only thing similar to the old Reader's Digest is it's name. I first became acquainted with the Digest  when it was on the magazine rack at Garland HS. Back in those days it contained no advertising. The index of the 30 condensed articles (one for each day of the month) was printed on the front cover. After HS we subscribed to it and I read nearly every article. I herded cows a lot and would read while the cows grazed. We subscribed to it even in our early years of marriage. My reading time was much less as the kids came along so I started saving the issues that I hadn't read. I have a distinct memory of making a decision that we wouldn't move the collection to Lincoln with us. It may have been about that time that we let our subscription lapse. With my working and taking college classes, there was little time for magazine reading, even in a condensed form. It isn't surprising that they had to go to advertising to meet the cost of publication but what makes me wonder is, "How were they able to publish the magazine back in the '40's without the advertising revenue?".