20 BULLETIN 874, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ment. Having obtained the listing of a farm at a certain minimum 

 price and having found a purchaser at a considerably higher price, 

 the real estate man might arrange a sale to a friend at the minimum 

 price with the understanding that the profit derived from the subse- 

 quent sale would accrue to the real estate man and his friend. 



FARM EARNINGS AND INCOMES OF OWNERS, TENANTS, AND LAND- 

 LORDS, 1913, 1915, 1918, 1919. 



The value of the farm is so large a part of the total capital employed 

 in farming that a considerable change in that value must have a 

 profound influence on the incomes of owner operators, tenants, and 

 landlords. In order to measure the effects of the radical change in 

 land values in the past few years on the several classes of incomes, 

 data on farm earnings and incomes have been assembled by the 

 survey method for three different years, 1913, 1915, and 1918, and 

 covering the same areas in each of two years. 



The two districts studied in this manner are shown by solid black 

 areas on the map, figure 1. One of the districts consists of contig- 

 uous townships in Tama, Blackhawk, and Grundy Counties. Since 

 the majority of the farms surveyed in this district are in Tama County, 

 the district will be referred to hereafter as the "Tama" district. 

 Data on farm earnings were obtained for 965 farms in this district 

 in 1913 and for 211 farms in 1918. The other district lies wholly in 

 Warren County, principally in the southern portion of the county. 

 Data on farm earnings were obtained for 832 farms in this district 

 in 1913 and for 183 farms in 1918. 



The two districts differ considerably in character. Measured both 

 by value of land per acre and by farm income per acre, the Tama 

 district is shown to be characterized by more productive land than 

 the Warren district. The average size of farms is greater in the first 

 district, and the percentage of tenanted farms of the total number 

 surveyed greater — 46 per cent as compared with 31 per cent in the 

 Warren district. Finally, farm earnings in the Warren district were 

 considerably reduced in 1918 because of an unusually poor crop of 

 corn. This fact is reflected in all comparisons of incomes for the 

 two districts. Because of these contrasts the data are presented 

 separately for the two districts. These data are presented from 

 several standpoints. 



In order to interpret correctly the significance of these changes in 

 income it is necessary to consider, not only the changes measured in 

 dollars, but also changes in the purchasing power of the dollar for the 

 period covered. Unfortunately there are no detailed statistics on 

 farmers' budgets that are adequate for the purpose of weighting 

 changes in prices according to the relative importance of the several 

 items in the farmer's budget. According to the index numbers of 

 the United States Bureau of Labor, wholesale prices increased 123 



