RELATION BETWEEN PAY AND STANDARD OF LIVING 31 
ther, schooling of the operator and home maker only can not be 
accepted as indicative of all the desires developed and demands 
made upon family living through education. Schooling of the other 
members of the family, in homes where there are sons and daughters, 
is fully as significant a factor as is schooling of their parents. In 
addition the influence of study and reading at home and of social 
participation in neighborhood and community activities are not 
taken into account in the analyses. Schooling of the operator and 
home maker is more closely related to the annual rate of accumula- 
tion and to net worth than to expenditures per family and per cost- 
consumption unit which means undoubtedly that it has an indirect 
positive relation to the standard of living. 
(4) With regard to relation of the ability to pay to the standard 
of living the sum of all costs per cost-consumption unit seems to be 
the most satisfactory of the three measures of expenditures. Ex- 
penditures per family seems equally satisfactory for comparing ex- 
penditures for family living among diiferent localities or sections, 
different tenures, and different trades. The percentage of all ex- 
penditures per cost-consumption unit for advancement appears to 
be the least satisfactory of the three measures of expenditure. This 
is due in part to wide variations in the expenditure for goods classi- 
fied under advancement in comparison with rather limited variations 
in expenditures for food, clothing, or house rent. Furthermore, the 
arbitrary classification of goods with regard to advancement may 
help render the percentage of the total expenditures for this purpose 
somewhat unsatisfactory as a measure of the standard of living. 
All three measures of expenditure should be further tested by the 
use of larger numbers of records. 
(5) The evidence is not sufficient to conclude that the standard 
of living is due primarily to economic advancement. Nor is it suf- 
ficient to conclude that the standard of living keeps pace with the 
growth of new demands and new desires developed through growth 
and through education, that is, through information, social partici- 
pation, and experience. Undoubtedly economic advancement, ability 
to pay, and the development of new desires and demands are de- 
pendent upon each other. If the ability to pay, that is, possession 
of more money to spend, be regarded as the first requisite, more 
money to spend must mean more comforts for the farm family and 
more lasting satisfactions for all persons composing the family. 
Desires for higher standards of living and the ability to pay must 
go hand in hand. 
DEFINITION OF FACTORS 
Farm income is the difference between farm business receipts and 
expenses for the year. Interest on farm capital, whether borrowed 
or not, is not deducted. The value of family labor is considered an 
expense. The data are based on the farm operated as a whole 
regardless of tenure of the operator. 
Labor income represents the farmer's net return for the year, 
after all farm expenses including unpaid labor, interest on invest- 
ment, and depreciation on equipment have been deducted. 
Disposable net income refers to the total returns per family from 
labor of the operator and his family both on and off the farm and 
from farm and other investments, with no deductions for rent ami 
