| Show U. U S. S Farmer Puts Money in ill the tIle Bank BallI While City Folk FoIl End Up Behind Bellind Ball 8 By lIy OSCAR REGAN by bv Western Newspaper Union WASHINGTON Though Though Though V V his source of income is constantly threatened by natural natural natural nat nat- ural and artificial disasters and he must support the na no- notions notion's na- na nations nation's tion's Lions largest family Mr Average Average Av Av- Av- Av American Farmer manages manages man man- ages to save more money than any other average man manIn manin manin in the United States What's more technological trends will probably enable him to better his record f for r economy In the next few years years and and get fat tat doing it A to house-to-house survey urvey of more than farm village and city families by the department of agriculture agriculture ag ag- reveals that 42 per cent of the nations nation's farm families consist of five or more persons Only 26 23 per percent percent percent cent of the village and city groups are that large the average being slightly under three Yet where Income income In in- come Is from 1000 to 1250 a year a farm family ends the year with witha a saving of 26 20 up while city families families fam lam of the same level wind up in ina a deep financial hole Let a farmer farm tarm- er get his hands on as much as to a year and hell he'll save almost half halt of it the survey dis dis- closed Ills Diet Is 85 Better While watching his pennies the farmer manages to cat eat more good things than other grou groups s. s Ills His brood of five consumes CO liO 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 survey sur sur- vey to be the poorest fed in the theland theland theland land some almost to the point of malnutrition though an abundance of fresh and nourishing food is usually usually ally available nearby In fairness however the survey discloses that farmers do not have as many Incidental expenses as their urban brethren Less than halt half those questioned had electricity while 98 per cent of city and village dwellers dwell dwell- ers ens get monthly power bills Only 52 per cent of the rural families had Installed telephones as compared com corn pared with 60 CO per cent for village and urban families More than 94 9 per cent of city homes were billed for running Water water wa wa- ter while In the north central region region re reo re- re gion glon 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 automobiles au au- au- au as 81 compared with only 70 per cent of ot the others the agrarians ans buy three-fourths three of their cars from the used-car used 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 Rural al Electrification administration have been extended to farms In addition the surfacing hard-surfacing of approximately 85 per cent of the nations nation's primary and secondary highways has brought the costly attractions attractions at at- tractions of the city city beauty beauty par par- a r f t t t I 4 I 0 4 t i 1 t S S S i S i 5 1 M LORDING IT OVER OVEn CITY Agriculture CITY Agriculture department urI survey shows farmer making 1000 to 12 1250 1230 0 a year trill save a little of oJ it city families tt u-ith u lh the same income wind up in a deep financial hole lors lots theaters shops and department stores stores closer closer than ever to the farm However it is pointed out such threats to farm bank balances are more than offset by technological advances which have cut farm production production pro pro- costs Chief among these are small low-cost low purpose all-purpose tractors trac tors tons which owe much of their time and fuel savings ability to the pneumatic matic rubber farm tires on which they have attained speeds comparable ble to those of the automobile Designed De signed specifically for work on the typical American farm of acres or less these shod rubber-shod machines have been found to cost a maximum maxi mum of 34 cents an hour to operate on regular farm work Including depreciation de upkeep interest taxes and all 1111 other charges Replaces the Horse With government figures placing the cost of working one horse or mule at cents an hour the small rubber-equipped rubber machines replace replace replace re re- place four draft animals which would cost a total of an hour to work Each hour then the tractor is saving saying sav say ing at least cents or every every ev ery hour 10 day a sizeable addition to farm savings Furthermore P. P W. W farm service manager manag manag- er of the B. B F. F Goodrich company which pioneered the development of pneumatic farm tires points out that the saving of approximately 24 working days on a acre ISO farm farmby farmby farmby by the faster machines enables farmers to cultivate approximately 33 additional acres with resultant increases in Income up to an an- 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 rele i-dc- vant to modern American Iro ems In New England average net cash Income for the group of farm operators operators' operators operators' operators operators' op op- op- op 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 are 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 More I In the Southeast white farm families lies in Georgia fared worst with an average net cash income of for forthe forthe forthe the year Mississippi white farm operators fared best with an average average av avo av- av net cash income of 1566 1560 Many oddities were brought out in the survey Despite their traditional traditional thrift New England villagers required an income of from 1750 to 2000 before substantial savings were made The expenditures of low income Southern farm wives and daughters for cosmetics and beauty parlors almost equalled 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 wife while in the Midwest men spent more in barber shops than their wives did in beauty par lors lore I i |
