RELATION BETWEEN PAY AND STANDARD OF LIVING 5 
Relatives and other- arc taken into account in ;il! costs when sup- 
ported from a common income. When not supported from a com- 
mon income, they are excluded under all except food and rental 
costs. Hired help and boarders are included under food and rental 
costs only. 
Owing to the extremely variable composition of the farm family 
or household, neither is regarded as a satisfactory basis for de- 
termining the relation of the ability to pay to the standard of 
living. For this purpose sets of cost-consumption units, described 
on pages 14 and 15 have been developed. 
The family, however, is used as a unit for comparing the values, 
and the distribution of values, of goods used by families or house- 
holds of different tenure groups and different localities and indus- 
tries. Its use in this connection admits of comparisons which are 
not possible in terms of the sum of expenditures per cost-consump- 
tion units. 
Though smaller than size of household, size of family is regarded 
as the more satisfactory basis for comparing the values of goods 
used. Variations in the average size of household follow closely 
variations in the average size of family for the several tenure 
groups and localities of this study as well as of other studies. From 
a social and from an economic point of 'view, size of family seems 
to be equally preferable as a basis for these comparisons. 
The average size of family and household and the average age 
of husbands, wives, sons (at home) and daughters (at home) are 
shown in Table 1. Families average 4.6 persons. Households are 
slightly larger — 4.7 persons. 
Table 1. — Average size* of family and household and average ages of hus- 
bands, wives, sons (at home) and daughters (at home) for the gear ended 
December 31. 1919. in 861 farm homes of selected localities of Kenturky, 
Tennessee, and Texas 
Average 
size of— 
Average age of— 
.5SS2E 
Family 
House- Hus- 
hold bands 
Wives 
Sons at 
home 
Daugh- 
ters at 
home 
All | 861 
Number 
4.6 
4.4 
4.8 
4.9 
Number 
4.7 
4.6 
4.9 
5.0 
Years 
44.3 
48.3 
40.7 
40.3 
Years 
39.8 
43.1 
37.4 
35.8 
Years 
11.4 
12. S 
11.0 
8.7 
Years 
11.2 
12 5 
Tenants... 321 
Croppers 129 
10.6 
9.3 
For all three States, families of owners are smaller than families 
of tenants or croppers. Both husbands and wives of the owner fam- 
ilies are older than husbands and wives of tenant or cropper fami- 
lies. Similarly, sons and daughters of owners are oldest, and those 
of croppers are youngest. 
CLASSIFICATION OF EXPENDITURES 
In the tabulation of data, costs for the various goods are classi- 
fied according to the logical relation of these goods to the standard 
of living. The object of the classification used is twofold: (1) To 
enable the reader to make direct comparisons of the costs of goods 
for specific purposes, and (2) to afford a more satisfactory index 
