Charlevoix county herald., 1915-04-03
What is the Farmers Real Income?

practically one-quarter, animal prod
ucts more than one-half, vegetables
11.6 per cent and fruit only 6.3.
Practically all of the groceries were
bought; on the other hand the guam
tity of fruits and vegetables used
was in direct proportion to the guam
tity raised on the farm and where
this quantity was great the grocery
bill was correspondingly low. This
was also found to be true of animal
products, including of course, not
only butchers meat, but poultry,
eggs, milk, cheese, etc. Where these
were abundant on the farm fewer
groceries were purchased. Since the
grocery bill was found to be ordinar-
lily two-thirds of the entire amount
expended in cash for food, one very
obvious and effective way ofoeeono-
MIXING appears to be to raisy ore
vegetables, more fruit, more milk
and eggs. In many cases, experts
say, this can be done with no appre-
ciable increase i'm trouble or expense.
Next to food, shelter is probably
the most important necessity of life.
In considering the farmers income,
however, common error in the past
has been to ignore the question of
house rent. The value of the house
has usually been included in the val
ne of the land, and the whole con-
sidered as capital invested on which
interest must be paid before the
farmer can be regarded as receiving
any pay at all. This method, how
ever, assumes that the farm family
is to have shelter for nothing an
assumption which the city worker
with whom it is not unusual to pay
out from one-third to one-quarter or
his entire wages for rent alone would
regard as most astonishing.
According to the recent investiga-
5ion, if the average farmer had to
pay rent, his home would cost him
S125 a year This figure represents
10 per cent of the value of the ave-
rage house. Including interest, de-
probation and repairs, this is re-
garded as a fair rental charge for
the class of houses usually found on
the farm.
With the information at their
command the Investigators were
also in a position to compute the
average cost of board and lodging
on the farm In this they included
an item very easily forgOtten-the
value of the housework performed
by members of the family. This
was reckoned on the basis of the
wages that would have had to be
paid for hired assistants. Including
this with the more obvious charges
for food, fuel, light, and rent, it was
found that board and lodging for,
each individual averaged $14.62
month. But of this sum, it is in
teresting to note, the farmer paid
out in cash only % per cent. Elk
elusive of lodging the board of the
average hired man cost $40 a month,
but here again the farmer had only
to pay So. The remaining 81 was
furnished by the farm as a result
presumably of the hired mans own
efforts.
The averages obtained a. the re-
suit of this investigation are not of
course to be taken as mathematical
" exact for the entire country. In
the opinion of agricultural experts,
however, they point with convincing
emphasis to the possibilities of COM
fort and prosperity that may be real
lied by a fuller utilization Of all the
farms resources. Cash crops are
not the sole, and on the average they
are not even the chief source of real
income. 1t is really what the farm
furnishes directly to the farmer that
enables him to support his family.
To increase the quantity and quality
of this direct supply is one treat OBJ
iect of farm management studies.