RELATION BETWEEN PAY AND STANDARD OF LIVING 
21 
regard to the number of years that they have spent as earners. 
Croppers accumulated about $95 for each year of their earning 
life, tenants $357, and owners $1,107. 
Table 7. — Averages of some factors or criteria considered as indicative of 
ability of farmers to pay; year ended December 31, 1919, 861 farm homes of 
selected localities of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas 
Item 
All 
farmers 
Owners 
Tenants 
Croppers 
Number of farmers. 
(861) 
(411) 
(321) 
(129) 
Disposable net income 
Acres per farm 
Total farm capital per farm 
Operator's working capital 
Cost of operation 
Index of diversity of farm enterprises... 
Net worth of the farmer 
Percentage of net worth obtained as gratuitous wealth 
Percentage of net worth obtained through net increase in 
the value of land 
The number of years since the farmer began his earning life 
$2,178.00 
108.3 
$21, 509. 00 
$2, 950. 00 
$2, 947. 00 
2.6 
$14, 502. 00 
17.0 
15.3 
23.4 
S2. 
$25, 
Operator's average annual rate of accumulation _J $673.00 
429. 00 
132.0 
734.00 
716.00 
327. 00 
2.9 
998.00 
22.1 
30.5 
27.1 
107. 00 
$2,141.00 
104.6 
$22, 716. 00 
$2, 836. 00 
$3, 108. 00 
2.4 
$5, 184. 00 
12.0 
1.8 
19. 9 
$357.00 
$1,422.00 
42.3 
$8, 026. 00 
$767. 00 
$1, 346. 00 
1.9 
$1, 274. 00 
12.9 
.7 
20.5 
$95.00 
On an average, over a third of the number of years since the 
farmer began his earning life, 8.7 years out of 23.4 years, were spent 
in occupations other than farming^ A number of the most suc- 
cessful owners in the Tennessee and Kentucky localities had used a 
large portion of their earnings in occupations other than farming. 
Many of these had taken up farming for other reasons than that 
they had failed in business. Others, more or less incompetent, seem 
to have vacillated between farming and other occupations. With 
this factor, as with the total number of years since the farmer began 
his earning life, the influence is insignificant with regard to the 
ability to pay. 
With this consideration of the factors or criteria for which data 
are available net worth of the farmer is accepted as the most ade- 
quate measure of the farmer's ability to pay. Net worth represents 
the total value of all the unencumbered wealth of the farm family at 
the time of the study. While it may not be an indication in many 
instances of the liquid or the quick assets for the year of study, it 
is regarded as more significant of the reaction of the farm family 
to its economic situation or environment than is income. It must be 
recalled that three-eighths of the farm family's living is provided 
without direct purchase, that is, furnished by the farm without the 
use of funds. Furthermore, the farmer's income is usually very 
unevenly distributed throughout the year. Then, too, the upkeep 
and enlargement of the farm business resources may mean keen com- 
petition with family living during any particular year. When all 
is said, both farm and family income may be less significant of the 
quick or the liquid assets than is total net worth. 
Although selected as the most adequate measure, net worth will 
not be used to the exclusion of all other similar factors in the further 
analyses of the ability to pay as related to the standard of living. 
The average annual rate of accumulation of wealth might be re- 
garded as an equally satisfactory measure except that it fails to 
include' wealth received gratuitously or from increases in land values. 
On this account the average annual rate of accumulation should be 
