234 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



farm expenses such as fertilizers, feed for stock, labor, 

 etc., and $322 interest at five per cent on the farm cap- 

 ital. 50 This was above the average of urban wage-earners 

 and below that of salaried employees. 51 An analysis of 

 4,018 farms selected from regions representing better 

 than average conditions showed the average earnings of 

 these farm families to be $952 a year, of which $400 

 came from the farm as food, fuel, and housing. 52 In this 

 case also, the farm living remained the constant factor. 



Allowing for the rise in food prices these figures agree 

 with the figures on the value of living furnished from 

 the farm, cited for the higher groups of farmers. In these 

 cases, also, the living from the farm tended to remain 

 the constant factor. Diversification may be said to ap- 

 proach its limit when it feeds the family and the work 

 animals. Any further rise in the standard of living will 

 depend on increased production of cotton, or other cash 

 crops. 



Thus on even the better diversified farms the food 

 crops may do no more than feed the household and work 

 animals, leaving the living purchased to be defrayed by 

 the receipts from cotton. The retarded development of 

 urban and industrial centers in the South has not cre- 

 ated wide markets for truck and dairy products. Ac- 

 cordingly, in many instances the farmer's money income 

 will depend on two factors: the acreage in cotton and 

 the level of tenure. Acreage in cotton determines how 

 much the farmer produces, and his tenure level deter- 

 mines what part of his product he receives. As a matter 

 of fact this formula for ascertaining the money receipts 

 of the cotton farm is an oversimplification in that it 



50 Ibid., pp. 3-4. 51 Ibid., Fig. I, p. 6. 



