THE FARMER'S STANDARD OF LIVING 49 
There is evidence in Table 15 of a somewhat insignificant relation 
between the length of work day and the average value of all goods 
used. The average value of goods used increases slightly and irregu- 
larly with a decrease in the length of work day from 15.5 and more 
hours to 8.4 and less hours per day. Viewed in the light of the 
principal groups of goods, the relationship is a bit more striking, 
since the average value of advancement goods and of all other goods 
increases more markedly and less irregularly with the decrease in the 
length of work day. Indication of this more significant relationship 
is evident in the percentages that the average values of advance- 
ment goods form of the average values of all goods used. 
The average size of the family is of interest here. It will be noted 
that the average number of persons per family decreases from 5.1 
to 3.8 persons with a reduction in the hours' work per day, from 
15.5 and over to 8.4 and less. This is indicative of a higher standard 
of living among the families in which the home maker works less 
hours per day. The tendency of the average value of goods to remain 
constant or to increase slightly with a decrease in the number of 
hours of work per day means higher average values of goods per 
individual among the groups of families in which the home maker 
finds it possible to accomplish her work in less hours per day. 
The average number of persons per family remained almost con- 
stant or varied without regard to the average number of hours of 
work per clay of the operator. 
HOURS OF REST 
For all families for which data were available, an average of 2.6 
hours per day, excluding Sunday, for the operators and 2.7 hours 
per day, excluding Sunday, for the home makers was spent in 
reading and resting. This time includes minutes or hours spent in 
rest or relaxation, including reading, during the afternoon in ad- 
dition to any time spent in rest or recreation, including reading, 
between the completion of the day's work and the time of retiring. 
For the home maker, both sewing and mending are considered work 
and are included in the actual work day. Both the operators and 
the home makers of the Southern States spent more time resting 
than did those of the other two sections. 
RELATION OF HOURS REST TO VALUE OP GOODS USED 
With regard to the time spent in resting, all records were classi- 
fied in the case of both the operator and the home maker, on the 
basis of 30-minute rest periods, into 10 groups beginning with less 
than 0.25 hour. As with length of the work day, only those families 
reporting time spent in rest are included — over 1,800 for the operators 
and almost 2,100 for the home makers. Results of the two tabula- 
tions for hours spent resting were practically the same and only 
those for hours of rest by the home maker are presented in Table 16. 
