THE FARMER'S INCOME 635 



smaller than it otherwise would be if the farmer did not also 

 have the interest on his capital. Thus, we have found that in 

 the better agricultural sections the labor income of tenants is 

 considerably higher than that of farmers who work their own 

 farms, although the latter have larger incomes than the tenants 

 when we take into account the interest on their investment. 



A very large percentage of American farmers live on the 

 interest of their investment and do not receive anything for their 

 own wages. Where the farm is of considerable size, such farmers 

 are able to live well, but on the small farm the interest on the 

 investment is not sufficient to permit a high standard of living, 

 so that the farmer must have some labor income in addition. 

 The average income of the farmer could be increased by making 

 the farms larger and thus reducing the number of individuals 

 engaged in agricultural production. This could easily be done 

 without decreasing production by better farm organization and the 

 utilization of larger machinery and more power on the farm. 



An average in itself has little meaning. In the present case, 

 however, it is reasonable to infer that at least half of the farm 

 families in this country have incomes smaller than those given in 

 the table. Individual farmers here and there have incomes larger 

 than this average, but the facts presented in the table indicate 

 that on the whole the income of farmers in this country, even 

 when we include as a part of the income those things consumed 

 on the farm where they are produced, is certainly not more than 

 sufficient to pay 5 per cent on the investment and ordinary farm 

 wages for the labor they do, and it is probably considerably less 

 than this. 



