A second thing necessary to afford opportunity for recreation is an income from one’s work sufficient to provide more than the bare necessities of life.  Before the war, it is said, more than five million families, or about one fourth of the families in the United States, were trying to live on a wage of $50 a month, or less.  During the war, wages of skilled and unskilled labor shot upward; but so, also, did the cost of living.  It is not easy to determine just what share of the proceeds of industry should, in justice, go to the laborer in wages.  But it should be enough to provide not only for food and clothing and shelter, but also for decent family life, for healthful surroundings, for education for the children, and for wholesome recreation.

Labor unions and others interested in a fairer distribution of the proceeds of industry have long been working for the enactment of “minimum wage laws,” that is, laws fixing the least wage that may be paid for each class of labor, this to be enough to provide a reasonable satisfaction of all the wants of life.  Some states have already enacted such laws, and during the recent war the federal government in some cases fixed rates of wages, and appointed labor boards to adjust wages to the rising cost of living.

THE WISE USE OF LEISURE

Neither leisure nor income, however, suffice for recreation unless they are wisely used.  Mere idleness is not recreation; and many people use their leisure in dissipation instead of in recreation.  “Dissipation” is the opposite of thrift.  It means to “throw away,” or to be wasteful.  A person may “dissipate” his income.  We have come to understand the word “dissipation,” however, to mean excessive indulgence in pleasures or amusements that are wasteful of time, energy, or health, or all three, and we call the person “dissipated” who is addicted to such indulgence.  Any amusement, even though harmless in itself, may become dissipation if indulged in to excess, or at the sacrifice of other things that are better.

RURAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR RECREATION

One of the principal disadvantages often put forward against life in rural communities is the lack of opportunity for recreation.  It partly explains the difficulty of obtaining an abundance of farm labor, and is one of the obstacles to inducing young people to remain on the farm.  Unfortunately, too, the women on the farm have often been the chief sufferers from close confinement to the drudgery of housework, with little opportunity for recreation and less chance than the men have to enjoy the companionship of other people.

The very nature of farming entails hard work and long hours, especially at certain seasons.  Under existing conditions it is hard to see how the farmer’s working day could be limited to eight hours as in most other occupations.