HOW THE COTTON FARMER LIVES 221 



In New England 52.7 per cent of the families studied, 

 owned and used automobiles, 54.1 per cent of the south- 

 ern families, and 78.2 per cent of the north central fam- 

 ilies. Southern farm families had the highest average 

 expenditure for household help and laundry sent out. 27 

 This item is owing to the presence of cheap domestic 

 help furnished by Negro women. This fact also throws 

 light on the rather high social and economic status of 

 the southern families studied. 



Tables of expenditures for personal and advancement 

 goods show interesting rankings. Southern farm families 

 spend more for formal education, church, Sunday school 

 and missions, and tobacco, and less for reading matter, 

 dues of organizations, recreation, gifts, toilet articles, 

 candy, and sodas than any other farm group in the 

 United States. 28 They also spend less for clothing. These 

 studies are highly valuable as offering grounds for com- 

 parison between the higher levels of farm families in the 

 various sections. 



The value of goods consumed by the Alabama and 

 South Carolina families is divided into living furnished 

 and purchased in the table 29 on the following page. 



The South Carolina families spent for their living an 

 average of $1,481.80. Of this amount 47.1 per cent was 

 furnished by the farm. The greatest single item was 

 food, which made up 45.4 per cent of the total budget. 

 It is shown that 74.8 per cent of the food was furnished 

 by the farm. Alabama families had a higher budget of 

 $1,614.80 but with approximately the same proportion 

 furnished by the farm. 



The same trends are shown in the averages of the 



27 Ibid., p. 24. 28 Ibid., tables 5 and 6, pp. 25, 26. 



29 Compiled from Bulletin 1466, pp. 16-17. 



