30 BULLETIN 1068, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The disposable income varies from $1,094 for croppers to $2,429 for 

 owner operators — a difference of $1,335. This difference exceeds 

 the difference in the labor incomes of the two classes by $817 (com- 

 pare with item 6), which is largely the results of the earning power 

 of the greater amount of wealth of the latter class. The cropper 

 pays for all his capital and has a little less than half as much in us« 

 as has the owner operator (see Table 9). Owners additional had 

 only a slightly larger disposable income than share tenants, although 

 the former had 4.1 times as much net wealth as share tenants had, 

 which is largely explained by the conditions already discussed that 

 make the share-tenancy stage relatively more profitable to the aver- 

 age tenant than are the owner stages (see p. 27). 



Out of this disposable income the operator had to pay all family 

 expenses, and the remainder (item 10) represents the net accumula- 

 tion of wealth for the year from the farming efforts of the operator 

 and his family. 34 The cropper saved 13.6 per cent of his disposable 

 income ; the share tenant, 19.2 per cent ; the owner additional, 12.9 per 

 cent; and the owner-operator, 25.2 per cent. It will be noted that 

 the larger the disposable income the greater the amount that was 

 spent for family living, but that the per cent spent for family 

 living decreases with the increase of disposable incomes, except with 

 owners additional. 



The actual net accumulation of wealth of the average family in 

 1919 was $149 for croppers, $291 for tenants, $213 for owners ad- 

 ditional, and $613 for owner-operators. For all except the latter 

 class these figures may seem somewhat small. In fact, it is probable 

 that they are smaller than usual for reasons stated at the beginning 

 of the discussions of incomes. 



If the average share tenant should buy the farm he operated in 

 1919 on the assurance of his 1919 net accumulation of wealth, how 

 long would it require to pay for the farm and its equipment? As- 

 suming interest on farm indebtedness to be 5^ per cent and that the 

 rent paid as a renter equals interest on the total farm value, and 

 assuming further that, as farm indebtedness is lessened, the resultant 

 saving in interest is applied to the payment of principal, it would 

 require the tenant nearly 28 years to pay completely for his farm 

 and equipment from his $291 annual accumulation of wealth. If 

 the tenant were required to pay in cash at least one-third of the price 

 of the farm and equipment before he could buy he would have to 

 farm more than 13 years in order to complete payment. 



34 No wealth received from sources outside of the farm business, except for the labor 

 done off the farm by the operator and his family, is included in these figures. 



