Evening star., 1938-02-06

INCOME. Soo4, was The value OF the dairy
products, fuel. vegetables, ice. etc, used
in his own household. 1t concluded
liberal allowance for rent of the farmhouse.
Living conditions in the corn-hog belt
were studied in five typical Iowa counties.
Here, in one Of the richest agricultural
sections OF the United States, the average
family of four persons lived on a total
income OF Sl,l05. That such a family is
| able to survive at all, in the opinion of
those making the survey, is due to the
| extraordinary home managing ability of
| Iowa women. This average income was
| made up as follows: SSH in cash for corn
| and pigs and anything else salable raised
on the farm; 1922 in food, fuel and other
| necessities of life. and $40 from all sorts
| of outside sources.
This is. almost of necessity a land of
pork eaters, the survey showed Of the
average famllys food s56 was repre-
| sented by pork and pork products, COM
| pared to S26 in Michigan and s32 in Ore
| gon.
In oregon the survey struck a peculiar
| phase of American life-that of the man
| who lives on farm and gets a good deal
OF the family sustenance from it, but who
has a good job in the city. The average
income OF such a man was sl,677-sl,373
IN wages and 1904 in farm products. Ac-
tually, 1t was shown, the average family
got $3.50 worth of food and fuel from the
home place, but suffered a net loss of S126
on the cash operations of the farm.
Full-tlme farmers in the same area
we're much worse Off, the average family
having an income of sl084. Farm in
| comes ranged from $3.50 a year up to
$4,000 Here's how the suburban farmers
spent their money: s348, food $50. auto:
Sll3, clothes; running the house, 500; fur
nlture, $48; carfare, SIS; personal care, in
Guiding haircuts, shoe shines, cosmetics.
toothpaste. etc. s2s; medical care, s62;
recreation, S3l; reading, s13; education.
sl4; gifts, taxes, etc, s37; everything
else SO.
Ohio Average S1,359
The average Ohio family of four persons
got 81 1.35s-money and supplies-from the
| farm and outside Jobs OF the straight
1arm income. 1898 was in cash and S57l
| IN farm products. These provided s345
| worth to the family table, SIP of it in milk
and cream. Ohioans are chicken and egg
eaters the survey showed, the average
family consuming $54 worth of poultry
house products during the year.
Relative to his fellows elsewhere, the
survey shows, the Illinois farmer has very
little TO complain of. The average income
Tor family of four on the fertile prairie
farms was Sl,746, only s155 of which was
from outside jobs. The average cash in
come from the farm was s1O47, while s544
was made up of the value of farm products
consumed at home
There is big gap between this relatively
large income and the meager average of
S731 per family found in the Kansas
wheat belt. OF this S3O8 was in kind"
This is hardly fair picture of conditions
IN the area, however, because the survey
was taken when it had been hard hit bv
drought and duststorms.
A quite different spending and income
picture was obtained from the villages
where everything is cash income except
Tor what is cleaned from the family gar
Gen and perhaps from a small flock of
poultry and pig. More than 1000 homes
were visited in Vermont and Massa-
chussets. The average income for fam
lily OF four was 81 ,48O This seemed to be
about the bare living" income There
was very little difference in the expendi-
lures OF families receiving this average or
less. Once above $l48O, however, and
the family began to "splurge" Among
the business and professional families the
average expense for education jumped
from $40 for the $1,48O class to s29 for
the next higher income group. Among the
White collar workers the average expense
for clothes jumped at this point from
SOL to s124 rent from s2O4 to $3.50; cost
OF running the house from $181 to 1924,
and food, 1852 to s5os.
In Debt to Live
Business and professional families re-
celVing between $1,250 and $l,499 spent
on an average of 81 AIT for family living
whether they earned it or not That is.
at least half of them were going into debt
for the mere costs of living. Clerical
| WORKERS in the same income group spent
an average of $1,313 and wage earners
1882. At least half of them were barely
making both ends meet, but they were in
happy circumstances compared with the
| village doctor, lawyer and storekeeper who
were staying just few jumps ahead of the
! sheriff.
Among the profession families, tobacco
expense ranged from s12 year for the
lowest income groups to $43 for the high
est, and expenditures for reading ma
terial ranged from SIS to $50. Among the
clerical workers, tobacco ranged from an
average of $40 to $40 as income rose and
reading matter from $40 to $22 Among
the laboring group the ranges of these
two items in relations to income were So
to $38 for tobacco and Sc to $18 for reading,
A very similar picture resulted from
village studies in Kansas, North and
South Dakota, Colorado and Montana.
Everywhere. apparently, the more you
| make the more you spend,