RELATION BETWEEN PAY AND STAXDAKD OF LIVING 3 
whole scheme of farm life differs from that of the city. Much of 
the farmer's living is supplied from the farm without direct pur- 
chase. On the other hand, the farmer's money income may be, and 
usually is, less regular. 
The first studies of the standard of living were made among 
families of industrial workers of Europe. Many of these families 
had such low incomes that little more than food, shelter, and cloth- 
ing could be had. Comparisons of these with families of higher 
incomes studied later have led to the generalization that, as income 
increases the proportion spent for goods of a less material nature 
than food, housing, and clothing increases. This generalization will 
be tested in comparison with urban families in so far as conditions 
are considered similar. Whereas the income from farming is in no 
way synonymous with urban income, total expenditures will be used 
in its stead for certain comparisons. 
SCOPE OF STUDY 
Data here presented were obtained from schedules taken by the 
United States Department of Agriculture in selected localities of 
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas for a study of farm ownership and 
tenancy. Schedules from Kentucky and Tennessee were obtained in 
cooperation with the State college of agriculture in each State. 
Results given are based on estimates obtained by a field agent 
from some member of the farm family, usually the farm operator, of 
the receipts and the expenditures in connection with the operation of 
both the farm business and the farm home for the vear ended Decem- 
ber 31, 1919. 1 
Localities chosen in Kentucky lay in Shelby, Mercer, Jessamine, 
Montgomery, Bourbon, Scott, Woodford, and Fayette Counties. 
Localities in Tennessee were confined to three counties — Madison, 
Montgomery, and Williamson. Localities in Texas comprised 10 
counties in the "Black Prairie " — Dallas, Ellis, Hill, Johnson, Mc- 
Lennan, Bell, Falls, Limestone, Xavarro, and Williamson. Only a 
few schedules were obtained in Johnson, Limestone, and Navarro 
Counties. 
Of the 1,100 schedules obtained from all localities in the three 
States, only 861 were regarded as being sufficiently typical for use in 
this study. Approximately 150 schedules representing families of 
colored farmers are not included. About 75 schedules representing 
farms operated by single individuals or homes comprising persons 
of one sex were discarded from this study. A few others incomplete 
in some respect could not be used. 2 
The types of farming represented by the several localities studied 
vary widely in some respects and are similar in other respects. Ail 
the localities from which data were obtained in Kentucky are typical 
of the famous bluegrass area, and tobacco is the principal money 
crop with the farmers. Land values per acre in the counties studied 
1 Schedules taken in Montgomery County. Tenn.. about one-third of all those obtained 
from Tennessee, were for the year ended Jan. 1, 1921. 
2 Data on the farm business were tabulated by the division of land economics, and 
those pertaining to the family living were classified and summarized by the division of 
farm population and rural life, Bureau of Agricultural Economics. A general summary 
and analysis of the Texas schedules appear in D. 8. Dept Agr. Bui. 1068, " Farm Owner- 
ship and Tenancy in the Black Frairie of Texas.'" A summary of the data on Living con- 
ditions and the cost of living is given in a preliminary report of the Bureau of Agricul- 
tural Economics, U. S. Department of Agriculture. March. 1924, " Cost of Living in Farm 
Homes of Several Areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas." 
