HARVEST LABOR PROBLEMS IN WHEAT BELT. 31 



It would appear, therefore, that two distinct needs with respect to 

 harvest wages in the wheat belt should be satisfied as far as is prac- 

 ticable: (1) The need for a standard wage, known to everyone con- 

 cerned, in each locality; (2) the need for wages as uniform as possi- 

 ble, with due consideration of the varying conditions in the different 

 localities. 



STANDARD WAGES. 



There can be little question of the desirability of having a stand- 

 ard set in each State, either a standard wage for the State as a 

 whole or standard wages for sections of the State. The farmer will 

 then know what he must pay and what those who compete with him 

 for labor will pay, and the harvester will know what wages to ex- 

 pect. If either of the interested parties is dissatisfied with the 

 standard wage, it at least offers them a basis for bargaining. 



In Kansas the standard wage which has been fixed by State 

 meetings of farmers, in general, is set at the amount required to 

 attract men away from city employment and pay for their railroad 

 and other expenses to and from the wheat belt. In times of labor 

 surplus in cities this wage may be low, but in normal times the 

 harvest wage is higher than that for general unskilled labor. 5 



The purpose of the Kansas wage meeting is not to fix a low stand- 

 ard wage and force it upon the laborers, but to discover what wages 

 are necessary to attract labor from outside the State to the harvest. 

 A standard wage set too low in any year will cause a shortage of 

 help and higher bidding on the part of the farmers to get the few 

 men who come; one set too high will result in a surplus of men, a 

 tendency to pay much less than the established wage, and loss of 

 time to harvest hands. According to E. L. Ehoades, "the farmers 

 of Kansas consider the wage conference not as collective bargaining 

 but rather as a method of aiming at a reasonable conclusion as to 

 what wages supply and demand would set in the State, if supply 

 and demand had time to work the matter out to its logical conclu- 

 sion. The farmers do not consider this a method of bargaining but 

 as used to stabilize a price which will attract enough men to the 

 State, and not too many." 



UNIFORM WAGES. 



None of the agricultural or employment officials interviewed be- 

 lieved that uniform wages are either desirable or practical. The 



6 Kansas Agric. Coll. Extension Circular 23 (March, 1921), "Kansas Handbook of 

 Harvest Labor," by H. Umberger and E". L. Rhoades. 



