been widowed or divorced. Persons reported as separated are also included in the "married" group. In the third group are all persons reported as either widowed or divorced. Labor force.-The labor force includes all persons classified as employed or unemployed, and also members of the armed forces. Employed persons comprise all civilians 14 years old and over who, during the census week, were either (a) "at work" — those except unpaid family farm laborers who did any work for pay or profit, or worked without pay for 15 hours or more on a family farm or in a family business (the number of persons in the labor force includes approximately 93,000 unpaid family farm laborers who worked less than 15 hours during the census week); or (b) "with a job but not at work"--those who did not work and were not looking for work but had a job or business from which they were temporarily absent because of vacation, illness, industrial dispute, bad weather, or layoff with definite instructions to return to work within 30 days of layoff. Unemployed persons 14 years old and over are those not at work during the census week but were either looking for work or would have been looking for work except that (a) they were temporarily ill, (b) they expected to return to a job from which they had been laid off for an indefinite period, or (c) they believed no work was available in their community or in their line of work. FAMILIES AND HOUSEHOLDS Family. A family is a group of two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption, and living together. In this report the farm operators living alone or living with persons not related to them are shown in some tables and usually are treated as families rather than as single individuals. The total number of persons in families was not tabulated but counts of each family size were obtained in single person intervals in twelve groups. Families consisting of more than 12 members are counted in the "12 or more" group. In computing the average size of family, it has been assumed that the average number of persons in families of 12 or more was 12. The effect on the average size of family because of this assumption is slight. Family head.-A family head is defined in the 1950 Census as either (a) head of household with related persons present in household or (b) person unrelated to household head but with persons related to him comprising a family of which he is the head. OC Household.-A household includes all the persons who occupy a house, an apartment or other group of rooms, or a room, that constitutes a dwelling unit. In general, a group of rooms cupied as separate living quarters is a dwelling unit if it has separate cooking equipment or a separate entrance; a single room occupied as separate living quarters is a dwelling unit if it has separate cooking equipment or if it constitutes the only living quarters in the structure. A household includes the related family members and also the unrelated persons, if any, such as lodgers, foster children, wards, or employees, who share the dwelling unit. A person living alone in a dwelling unit or a group of unrelated persons sharing the same living accommodations as partis also counted as a household. ners One person in each household is designated as "head." Hence, by definition a count of heads of households is the same as a count of households which, in turn, is the same as a count of occupied dwelling units. HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS AND HOUSEHOLD EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES Dwelling unit. -A dwelling unit is a group of rooms or a single room occupied, or intended for occupancy, as separate living quarters by a family or other group of persons living together or by a person living alone. In this study the count of dwelling units (farm operators' dwellings) is the same as the count of farms. Approximately 39,000 of the dwelling units included in the tabulations for this report were vacant dwellings. Tenure of dwelling unit.-A dwelling unit is " owner-occupied" if the owner was one of the persons living in the unit even if the dwelling unit was not fully paid for or had a mortgage on it. When the owner of the unit was a member of the household but was temporarily away from home, as in the case of military service or temporary employment away from home, the unit was still classified as "owner-occupied." All occupied dwelling units that are not "owner-occupied" were classified as "renter-occupied" whether or not any money rent was paid for the living quarters. Condition of dwelling unit. To measure condition, the dwelling units were classified as "not dilapidated" or "dilapidated." A dwelling unit was reported as dilapidated when it had serious deficiencies, was run-down or neglected, or was of inadequate original construction, so that it did not provide adequate shelter or protection against the elements or endangered the safety of the occupants. A dwelling unit was reported as dilapidated if, because of either inadequate original construction or deterioration, it was below the generally accepted minimum standard for housing and should be torn down or extensively repaired or rebuilt. Specifically, a dwelling unit was to be reported as dilapi dated if- b. Substantial sagging of floors, walls, or roof. 2. It had a combination of minor deficiencies which were present in sufficient number and extent to give evidence that the unit did not provide adequate shelter or protection against the elements or was physically unsafe. Examples of these deficiencies are a. Holes, open cracks, rotted, loose, or missing materials over a small area. b. Shaky or unsafe porch, steps, or railings. c. Broken or missing window panes. d. Rotted or loose window frames which are no longer rainproof or windproof. e. Damaged, unsafe, or makeshift chinmey. f. Broken, loose, or missing inside stair treads or risers, balusters, or railings. g. Deep wear on doorsills, door frames, outside or inside steps, or floors. d. Inadequately converted cellars, garages, barns, and similar places. Water supply.-A dwelling unit has "piped running water" if water is piped to it from a pressure or gravity system. "No piped running water" includes water from a hand pump or from a well or stream or where no piped running water is available within the structure. A dwelling unit is counted as having hot piped running water whether it is available the year round or only part of the time. For example, hot running water may be available only during the heating season or at various times during the week. Toilet facilities.-A dwelling unit is reported as having a flush toilet if the toilet is inside the structure and is operated by means of water piped to it. Bathing facilities.-A dwelling unit has a bathtub or shower if either type of equipment, supplied with piped running water (not necessarily hot water), is available inside the structure for the use of the occupants of the dwelling unit. Cooking fuel.-The fuel used most for cooking was reported. Where the fuel used most was not readily ascertainable for combination stoves, the fuel listed first was reported. Kitchen sink. -A dwelling unit is reported as "with kitchen sink" if a sink, located within the structure and with a drainpipe leading to the outside, is available for use by occupants of the unit. The sink need not have running water piped to it. Refrigeration equipment. The principal refrigeration equipment available to the dwelling unit was reported, whether or not it was in use at the time of enumeration. "Mechanical" refrigeration includes any type of refrigerator operated by electricity, gas, kerosene, gasoline, or other source of power. "Ice" refrigeration includes a refrigerator, box, or chest cooled by ice supplied from an outside source. "Other" refrigeration includes other devices or methods used to refrigerate food, such as a spring house, cooler, well cooler, an ice house in which storage space is provided for perishable food, and any evaporative cooler which is operated by application of water. Telephone.-The data in regard to telephone relate to the farm and not necessarily to the dwelling of the farm operator as the telephone may not have been located in the dwelling of the farm operator. Electricity. If the farm had electricity, it was counted as a farm reporting electricity, although electricity may not have been installed in the dwelling of the farm operator. Electricity could have been either from a power line or from a home plant. HOME FOOD-PRODUCTION PRACTICES Gardens for home use. -Farms on which any vegetables, sweet corn or melons were harvested in 1949 for home use were counted as farms reporting gardens for home use. Farm slaughter.-Farms reporting farm slaughter include those on which hogs, calves, cattle, sheep, or lambs were butchered by or for the farm operator in 1949. Jackson V. McElveen, Division of Farm Management and Costs, Bureau of Agricultural Economics INTRODUCTION Disparity in the distribution of gross agricultural income is one of the chief causes for concern over the welfare of a substantial part of the farm population. Over 3 million farms had gross farm sales that amounted to less than $2,500 in 1949. This is 60 percent of the farms counted in the 1950 Census of Agriculture. (See table 1.) The relatively small sales of farm products, and the considerable amounts needed for cash operating expenses, raise doubt as to the adequacy of incomes available to many of the operator families on these farms. Low output per farm and per farm worker raise questions as to the efficiency with which resources are used on these farms compared with efficiency on other farms and in other sectors of the economy. Yet in formation necessary for a complete picture of either the magnitude of this problem or of the types of families affected has been lacking. Use of over-all data on farm size and gross income distribution has often resulted in conflicting conclusions-partly because of the difficulty in defining a farm, partly because of traditional concepts of the farm as the major occupation of farm people. What was typical a few decades ago applies to a much smaller segment of farm people today. Better roads, automobiles, radios, and numerous other improvements in transportation and communication, have brought farm people closer to urban life. The expanding economy has demanded an increased quantity and variety of goods and services. Industry is becoming widely dispersed throughout many areas that were formerly rural. These developments have created new and varied job opportunities for farm people. This has been part and parcel of the migration from agriculture and the over-all reduction in farm numbers. Among those who took up nonfarm jobs were many who continued to live on the farm and carry on some agricultural operations. Also, city workers moved to the country, supplementing their incomes by farming while enjoying advantages of country living. The merging of farm and non farm sectors has raised problems of classification. Data on farm sales alone are inadequate to appraise problems of income distribution in agriculture, for many operator families depend largely upon earnings from off-farm jobs and businesses. For others, pensions, old-age assistance, and incomes from rents or other investments are of primary importance. Farm income does not reflect total income nor the productivity of these families. A primary need is knowledge of the degree of dependency upon agriculture. The economic classification of farms has made substantial progress in clarifying the concept of a farm. The separation of commercial farms from part-time and residential farms is an important step forward. Commercial farms may be defined broadly as those operated as business units to provide the major source of income for the farm family. The porportion of commercial farms that reported other income exceeding farm sales are as follows: class I, 5 percent; class II, 4 percent; class III, 5 percent; class IV, 10 percent; class V,. 21 percent; class VI, none. Further division of the commercial farms on the basis of value of farm products sold provides a good measure of the size of the farm business. In contrast, farming operations on part-time and residential farms are usually supplementary to the off-farm economic activity of the operator and members of his family. On Table 1-FARMS, VALUE OF FARM PRODUCTS SOLD, FAMILY INCOME, AND PERSONS IN FAMILIES OF FARM OPERATORS, BY ECONOMIC CLASS OF FARM, FOR THE UNITED STATES: 1950 |