The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1915-01-13
REPORT ON COST
OF IOWA LIVING
Department Of Agriculture Completes
Survey Of Forty-six Farms in
Montgomery County.
AMONG BEST FED IN AMERICA
Consumption Of Food Largest and Fam
lily Best Housed-tiomc P;-o-
duction Is Neglected.

| ldtJl uoW tJIC bNettSS lOl III Cotl-
tributed to the family's living in the
form OF products grown and consumed
directly Old the farm. There are two
ways of obtaining the necessities Of
llife-raising them ones self, and rails
ing something else to sell for money
to buy them with. Successful farm
ing, say the experts. depends upon the
proper combination of tho two meth
DDS.
The investigation found that in the
area studied in Iowa the cost of hoard
aud lodging OH tho farm for each in
dividual was on an average $221 year
This sum included food, fuel, house
rent, oil and house labor, the items
being as follows:
FOOD ...... ...... ..$lU5.oi Z
fQet ...'....... ...'.'..... - l4.1o
Nll .4t..........'..s ...'.... leol
House rent .......... 36.O0
House labor .......... ...... t4.OO
This Is higher than any OF the fig
ures obtained by similar surveys in
Ne* York, Vermont, Pennsylvania,
WISCONSIN, Kansas, Ohio, Georgia,
North Carolina and Texas. The gen.
eral average for all the areas studied
was $l76. II we judge by the money
valpe OF the things ut Ills disposal this
means that the farmer in the Iowa
area lived better than elsewhere. He
ate; the most food and burned next to
the most fuel; the most work was done
in his house to add 10 his comfort and
/ thc house itself was exceeded in value
only by those in New York and Ohio.
Labor Has Cash Value.
Only a small part OF what he had
was paid for In money; in the case Of
the house labor for example, no moro
than per ctnt, the rest being per-
formed by members Of the family. Had
they done this work for somebody
else, however, they would have been
bai.ls for IT,, aud IL it had been per-
formed ~, sOinebody elsGsthey would
| have had to pay. ln,other words, this
labor hus a cash value and since il
adds 10 the comfort of the family,
must III included in the revenue from
the farm.
4 The Charge for rent must be consid
cred in much the same way. Tie
value of the farm house is usually in-
cluded In tho value OF the land, and
tho whole regarded as the capital
which the farmer has invested in his
business. II this is done, however,
1t is only fair to credit the farm with
having furnished its occupants with
shelter, which, aa every city worker
knows, has a high cash value. On the
Iowa farms included in the investiga-
tion the average annual value of this
SheIter--in other words. the house
rent was estimated at $15S year. Il
figure which included interest, de-
probation and repairs.
The great factor in the cost Of main
tainIng life, lloweve'. Is food. Of this
the average family in the Iowa area
had $44371 a year, or $1OS.67 for each
person. The consumption OF food per
person was the largest of any of the
areas. but if the family be taken as
the unit. Kansas. Texas and Georgia
rank higher. Sixty-seven per cent Of
the food was homo grown, the rest
purchased. This compares favOrably.
with the general average for all the
areas of sixty-three and in this re-
spect Iowa. like Kansas and Ohio,
stands midway between such extremes
as New York where the farm produced
only One.half the food consumed upon
it and North Carolina. where the av-
eragc family spent only $Il.2S on food
In tho entire year
Farmer Buys Nis Vegetables.
From these and other figures pub
lished In Farmers Bulletin 635 of the
United States department of agricul-
ture, "Wlat the Farm Contributes Di-
rectly to the Farmers Living" IL APP
pears that the Iowa faruer did SO well
largely because Of the animal products
his farm furnished his table with.
They formed In value 81 per cent Of
his die-a greater per cent than in any
other statc-and only A.3- per. cent of
them were bought. On the other hand
the vegetable garden was badly neg
lected. Although vegetables formed II
per cent of tue diet-abOut the usual
proportion in other areas as we'll
only AZ per cent were home grown.
This is extraordinary for the con
sumption of vegetables is usually de-
termined by the extent Of the home
supply, In Georgia. for example. they
formed l7.2 per cent of the food sup
ply and ~ per cent were home grown.
But for some reason the Iowa man
who supplies his family abundantly
with animal products from his own
place preferred to buy his vegetables.
What he did raise, however. is
raised in plenty. The average man in
MAJ
raised pork than in any other state
save Ohio and more home raised beef
than in any other state save Kansas.
In the course of the year he ate fifty
eight dozen eggs. the man in Vermont
seventeen, dozen. He drank sixty
three gallons Of milk. more than in
any other area, save Ohio.
His fuel cost him S14.23 or, for the