Show U S farmer puts money in the bank while city folk end up behind 8 ball by OSCAR REGAN released by western newspaper union whis washington ASHINGTON though his source of inome income is constantly threatened by natural and artificial disasters and he must support the nations largest family mr average american farmer manages to save more money than any other average man in the united states more technological trends will probably enable him to better his is record lor for economy in the next few years and get fat doing it A house to house survey of more then than farm village and city families by the department of agriculture ri reveals that 42 per cent of the nations farm families consist of five or more persons only 26 per cent of the village and city groups are that large the average being slightly un under der three yet where income is from 1000 to 1250 a year a farm family ends the year yea r iwin with th a saving of 26 up while city families of the same level wlad arn d up in a deep financial hole let a farm er get his hands on as much as to a year and hell save almost hall half of it the survey disclosed ills his diet Is better while watching his pennies the farmer manages to eat more good things than other groups his brood of five consumes 60 per cent more milk 16 per cent more butter and 25 per cent more fresh vegetables than city families village families incidentally are shown by the survey to be the poorest fed in the land some almost to the point of malnutrition though an abundance of fresh and nourishing food is usually available nearby in fairness however the survey discloses that farmers do not have as many incidental expenses as their urban brethren less than half those questioned had electricity while 98 per cent of city and village dwellers get monthly mon athly power bills only 52 per cent of the rural families had installed telephones as compared with 60 per cent for village and urban families more than 94 per cent of city homes were billed tor for running water while in the north central region of the united states ony 24 per cent of the farms paid for that convenience furthermore though 94 per cent of the farmers own automobiles to as compared with only 70 per cent of the others the agrati ans buy three fourths of their cars from the used car market while more than half the city families buy new cars however from one point of view farm savings are menaced by the rapid spread of rural electrification within the past decade the benefits of electricity according to the rural electrification administration have been extended to farms in addition the hard surfacing of approximately 85 per cent of the nations primary and secondary highways has brought the costly attractions tr of the city beauty par v j aa arf 5 Y v Z 31 V I 1 1 IN v LORDING IT OVER CITY agriculture department survey shows lows farmer making 1009 1000 to 1250 a year will save a little of it city families with the same income wind up in a deep financial hole lors theaters shops and department stores closer than ever to the farm however it Is pointed out suc such h threats to farm bank bances balances are more than offset by technological advances which have cut farm production d u action costs chief among these ar are e small low cost all purpose tractors which owe much of their time and fuel savings saving a ability to the pneumatic rubber farm tires on which they have attained speeds comparable to those of the automobile designed specifically tor for work on the typical american farm of acres or less these rubber shod machines have been beed to cost a maximum of 34 cents an hour to operate on regular farm work including depreciation upkeep interest taxes and all other charges replaces the horse with government figures placing the cost of working one horse or mule mul e at cents an hour the small rubber equipped machines replace four draft animals which would cost a total of an hour to work each hour then the tractor is saving at least cents or every 10 hour day a sizeable addition to farm savings furthermore P W farm service manager of the B F goodrich company which pioneered the development of pneumatic farm tires points out that the saving of approximately 24 working days on a acre farm by the taster faster machines enables farmers to cultivate approximately 33 additional acres with resultant increases in income up to an dually thus it Is presumed that farm thriftiness despite rising prices will increase during the next few years statistics on the cash income of farm families are peculiarly relevant to modern american pro Mems ems in new england average net cash income for the group of farm operators era tors families studied was in the central region the average net cash income for the families studied extended from a low of in iowa to 1202 in illinois dust and drouth disasters ar arp reflected still in figures for the mountain and plains regions where the lowest net cash income was for families studied in north dakota the high was in colorado montana and south dakota new englanders need blore in the southeast white farm families in georgia fared worst with an average net cash income of for the year mississippi white farm operators fared best with an average net cash income of 1566 many oddities were brought out in the survey despite their traditional thrift new england villagers required an income of from 1750 to 2 2000 00 0 before substantial savings were made m ade the expenditures of low income southern farm wives and daughters for cosmetics and beauty parlors almost equalled equal led those of the pacific coast group where net cash incomes were highest in ohio and pennsylvania the farmer spent more on clothing per year than his wile wife while in the midwest men spent more in barber shops than their wives did in beauty parlors |