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 
€ 
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