HARVEST LABOR PROBLEMS IX 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. Rhoades, " 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 
5 Kansas Agric. Coll. Extension Circular 23 (March, 1921), "Kansas Handbook of 
Harvest Labor," by H. Umberger and E. L. Rboadas. 
