employ them for meaningful income-producing purposes. Because
this is the situation now existing, and since it is one that gives
promise of prolonged continuation, it is probable that rural
Southerners in general will keep on retiring for a considerable
number of years on modest and relatively fixed incomes.
 What the amount of annual income should be to sustain
a Southern rural couple with self-respect in retirement is de-
batable. For the southern counties sampled, and under the con-
ditions that existed in 1964, the amount could hardly be less
than $1,800 to $2,000. Even at this income base, there would
be little money available for self-improvement, recreation, and
avocational travel. The existing situation is that possibly three-
fourths of the Southern rural families do not anticipate even
this amount of annual income during retirement, assuming that
the S-56 sample is representative.
 Although minimum retirement benefit standards may vary
from time to time, depending upon economic and other situa-
tions, the position of rural Southerners is one of comparative
disadvantage as measured by regional and sectional per capital
OAA payments. Because of a combination of circumstances,
it is in rural counties that subsidiary private and public em-
ployment is difficult to obtain. Recently the United States Con-
gress recognized the need for "war on poverty" as it affects
older Americans; yet the training, retraining, and educational
programs now in operation or contemplated on the Federal level
have little application for persons over 65. The characteristics
of retirement problems are such that each community must
appraise its own potentialities for developing action programs
that will maximize the resources of all its people, including the
elderly.
 The retirement outlook has changed considerably since 1964,
when the S-56 field work was conducted. The changes with the
greatest social impact for the elderly are the increases in Social
Security benefits and provisions for obtaining Federal Medical
Care (Public Law 89-97, 196,. These changes create both
optimism for the aged and confidence in the future for those
yet to retire. Still, the inescapable conclusion is that unknown
thousands of the South's 23,000,000 ruralites will eventually
become retirees with incomes less than adequate to maintain
them at common levels of social acceptability.