366 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



standard of living, which includes only such forms of expend- 

 iture as maintain strength and working capacity, stimulate men- 

 tal energy and alertness, and minister to the higher intellectual, 

 social, and aesthetic desires, will never handicap any one in 

 competition with men of lower standards. One result of a 

 competition among standards of living will be, in the long 

 run, to rationalize the standards, eliminating those forms of 

 expenditure which add nothing, and preserving those which 

 add something, to efficiency. This will come about through 

 the greater success of those families whose standards of living 

 approach most nearly to rationality, and through the lesser 

 success of those families whose standards of living depart most 

 widely from rationality. When farming becomes sufficiently 

 profitable to furnish opportunities approximately as good as 

 those furnished by the businesses and professions of the city, 

 there is no reason why farmers with a high standard of living 

 should be displaced by those with a low standard, provided the 

 high standard is rational, and not one which ministers to ener- 

 vating appetites or mere vanity and ostentation. 



Rural sports and recreations. Every hard-working student 

 will easily understand how essential a reasonable amount of 

 recreation is to the maintenance of a high state of mental and 

 physical efficiency. He will then appreciate the statement that 

 a rational standard of living must include a reasonable expend- 

 iture of time or money on recreations. Just what is a reason- 

 able expenditure for this purpose may not be easy to determine, 

 though there need be no disagreement as to the general prin- 

 ciple that too little recreation, which produces dullness of body 

 and mind, is as bad as too much, which is mere dissipation or 

 waste of time, energy, and money. Nor need there be any dis- 

 agreement as to the principle that the recreations should be 

 such as to appeal to all members of the community. While econ- 

 omists generally approve a division of labor in industry, there 



