the farmer's standard of living 15 
prices reported for fuel whether furnished by the farm or purchased. 
Many factors must be given consideration in attempting to account 
for all variations in the values of all the principal groups of goods 
among the different sections and the different States. It is the pur- 
pose of this bulletin to define the average levels of living as found 
prevailing rather than to account for differences among these levels. 
For all homes of the study $683.70' worth, or 42.8 per cent, of the 
total value of all goods were furnished by the farm. Farms of the 
New England States furnished $656.40 worth, or 38.8 per cent, of the 
total amount of goods ; farms of the Southern States furnished $7oT 
worth, or 45.6 per cent; and farms of the North Central States 
furnished $671.40 worth, or 41.6 per cent, of all goods used. Thus, 
the 1,130 families of the Southern States provided the lowest propor- 
tion of family living by direct purchase, the average values for pur- 
chased goods being $913.80 for all States, $1,035.80 for New England 
States, $844 for Southern States, and $941.80 for North Central 
States. 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE VALUE OF GOODS ACCORDING TO USES 
The average value of each of the principal groups of goods used 
appears in Table 1. The distribution of the average value of all 
goods among the principal groups of goods is shown graphically in 
Figure 2. These values are of interest from the standpoint of the 
actual and the relative amounts and the variety of all goods used. 
FOOD 
Food is by far the most important item of family living. As 
shown in Table 1, food had an average value of $658.80, amounting 
to 41.2 per cent of the value of all goods used. The average size of 
household, rather than the average size of family, should be noted in 
comparisons of values of foods for the several regions. It will be 
recalled that the household includes all the persons fed at the family 
table. 
