- 16 - . 



Labor Income. Perhaps $50 (Mexican) a year is the net 

 income of the average farmer. In some provinces it is 

 estimated that farmers can "get along" on $3 a month, or 

 even less. In other provinces the income may be as high as 

 $120 a year. The writer was given one instance of a tea farmer 

 in Chekiang who probably netted $300 a year from 3 mow or 

 Yz acre of land. It is not known how much income will buy, 

 as compared to North America or Europe. 



Standards of Living. Necessarily, however, the standards 

 are low, the wants simple and even primitive. There is 

 virtually no surplus or savings at the end of the year. 



Self-Sufficing Families. The typical farm family not only 

 has meagre wants, but it grows and makes most of what it 

 needs and uses in the way of food, clothing and shelter. 



Theft and Brigandage. Protection against theft of crops is 

 a serious drain on the time and energy of the farmers. This is 

 a rather curious fact in so pupuious a country. Brigands and 

 menacing secret societies are a serious pest in many provinces. 



Diet. It is impossible to state accurately the effect of the 

 farmer's diet upon labor efficiency. But the diet is necessarily 

 of rather narrow range, somewhat monotonous in character, 

 and probably in some cases suffers in cooking. 



Health. Any pronouncement upon this subject would be 

 mere guessing. It is known, however, that a large proportion 

 of the farmers are afflicted with hook-worm, especially those 

 who work with bare feet in the rice paddies. Tuberculosis is a 

 scourge in China. Infant mortality is high. 



Superstitions. The farmers, highly skillful within certain 

 lines are constantly handicapped by a multitude of superstitions 

 that unfavorably affect farm practice. 



Expensive Customs. They are also economically handicap- 

 ped by relatively costly customs. A frequent excuse for 

 borrowing money is for weddings, funerals, ancestral worship, 

 and so on. These expenditures are out of all proportion to farm 

 and home needs. 



There is no way of measuring the importance of these 

 various items of labor efficiency ' or lack of it. The total 

 impression is that of a seriously handicapped farmer, who lives 

 constantly on the margin of a scanty livelihood, with little 

 chance to learn new methods or to practice them if he knew 

 them. 



