60 BULLETIN 1466, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
1. Both the number of children and the ages of children per family 
are directly related to the standard of living, as measured in terms 
of the value of goods used and the distribution of this value among 
the principal groups of goods. 
2. There is a significant relation between the formal schooling of 
the operator and the home maker to the standard of living in terms 
of the value of goods used and the percentage distribution of the 
value among the different groups of goods. Apparently, formal 
schooling of the home maker is more closely related to the shaping 
of desires and demands for the economic goods of family living — of 
the goods of a more intangible nature especially — than is formal 
schooling of the operator. 
3. The use of time by the operator and the home maker bears an 
insignificant relation to the value of goods used and the distribution 
of this value among the different groups of goods. Apparently, 
many families finding it possible to provide some of the goods of a 
more intangible nature are not finding available time for the fullest 
use of these goods. The use of time by the home maker appears to 
have a slightly closer bearing than the use of time by the operator to 
both the value and percentage distribution of value of goods used. 
4. There is a direct relation between the size of farm operated and 
the standard of living, measured in terms of value and percentage 
distribution of value of goods used. 
5. There is a fairly significant relation between the number of 
years the operator has been a farm owner and the standard of living 
measured in the terms stated above. This relation corresponds to the 
relation between the age of the farm operator and the standard of 
.living. When due allowance is made for increased numbers and 
ages of children per family there is still, apparently, a tendency for 
the standard of living to rise with increased age of the operator and 
likewise with increased } T ears of ownership since age of the operator 
and years of farm ownership tend usually to move in the same direc- 
tion. Seemingly, the standard of living rises more markedly with 
increased numbers and ages of children than it falls after the chil- 
dren reach maturity and start for themselves. 
6. Mortgage indebtedness on farms seems to bear no relation to 
the standard of living. 
7. Income from sources other than the farm business bears a fairly 
significant relation to the standard of living in terms of the value 
and the percentage distribution of value of goods used. 
8. Of the three sets of factors regarded as influencing the stand- 
ard of living, the use of time apparently has the least significant 
direct bearing. This does not imply that the use of time has not an 
indirect bearing in connection with the goods furnished by the farm, 
as garden produce, fruits, fuel, and housing. Time spent in the pro- 
duction of these goods, however, is covered in the value of the goods 
used. 
Factors influencing the desires and demands seem to bear as close 
relations as do factors indicative of the ability to pay to the standard 
of living. But the evidence is not sufficient to conclude, that the 
standard of living keeps pace with the multiplicity of new desires 
and demands developed through growth and through education, 
that is, through formal schooling, social participation, and expe- 
