Pioneer

LIPTON'S NEW LAID EGGS REDUCED TO 3id. EACH. Head Office: LIPTON LTD., City Road, LONDON, E.G. 1. BRANCHES & AGENCIES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Political Notes By F. W. Jovvett. « I INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE, The Department of Information lias begun its| operations hy i.-»uing a paper called Reality for a new purpose. Whilst the war was in pro- gress "Reality spread lurid s?)ri?sa.bout the enemy, some of them doubt-less composed <?t?he principle of the famous War Office advice to writers to t lie in-ii; (-' i was to the elleet that the thing imagined might he as useful as the thing seen, if only it were inherently pro- bable. ("nder the new dispensation Reality devotes considerable space to boosting the mem- bers of the present ministiy. Lord Milner is praised for his indifference to rank and title, and for his austere life, etc.. etc. I he new Lord Chancellor is held up as a. snrpreme example of a democratic and thoughtful occupant of the woolsack. Especially is lie to be admired for the alleged fact that he is not afraid of "rubbing shoulders with the work-«*day world and when playing "tennis smokes a pipe.' Ibis is the sort of stuff that the British public is fed on by the -Department of Information when it directs its energies to enlightening the people on industrial and political questions. WHAT LABOUR MUST EXPECT. The "Manchester Guardian" is not favour- able to the transference of the energies of the fit of Information to the cultivation of enlightened opinion on industrial and political questions, and in the course of a leading article comments thereon as follows:  !n war-time ?Dep?rt'neut of information. l)ke Die inte?i?ent Corps of an army, must not eXist imply to add to the extant stock of knowledge. Us dutv is ?oth to inform and to misinform, and to do both without a prefer- ence for truth or falsehood according to the relativo degrees in which each is likely to con- duce to victory. Soldiers in every army frankly call their own country's propaganda i gaiiisatioii by the alfectioiiaU' nickname of ''the lie-factory," and trust it^to ma ke better lies than the rival factory and to circulate them more energetically, a lie of omission or commission being as natural an engine of wai- as a dummy gun or a sham aerodrome. It is part of the morals of war, which arc as un- like the morals of peace as khaki is unlike mufti." But it appears that the department formed for misleading the public with regard to the enemy in time of war is to be employed for a similar purpose against the miners And other organisa- tions which the Government comes into conflict. WHERE THE SURPLUS COES, I The Press is arguing that the claims of tll,, colliers for-Jiigher wages and shorter hours can- not bo met. because if the whole of the profit-; of the mine-owners and the whole of the mining- royalties were applied to the purpose of meet- ing the cost of these things the amount avail- l able from these sources would not suffice. It is alleged that the colliery proprietors get only 1 per ton on the average, and that royalties only account for Uti. per ton. The writers in the press who argtle on these lines are, of course, perfectly well aware that the iiijiiev-.s case i* not oniv that protits and royalties should be rele- e-afed t<> t-b" background when the claims of La- bour are at sta lie, but that all the waste of the present competitive system might be saved If the mines were nationalised. As things stand tllis a lid other countries can no longer afford the present wasteful' system of distribution any- more than it can allow colkery owners pior.ts and royalties to stand in ill*' May. Laooin Jia'- not only to bear the charge of profit to the em- ployer, and in the case of miners, of royal^ties and wavleaves to the landlords as well, but it has to bear the cost of interest and of rent,, and of all the unnecessary speculations and dealings which take place in the product of labour. The net result of all the form* of waste in specula- tion, on landlordism and on profiteers is that roughly speaking labour only receives about third of its earnings. The remaining two-thirds filters away to persons who do not contribute anything of value to the process of production. In advocating national ownership the miners are going direct to the source of waste, and showing that it is possible to increase considerably the status of labour without increasing appreciably, if at all, the cost of coal to the consumer. CONCEALINC THE PROFITS. I As indicated in the above paragraph the pro- fits of any individual company or concern do not tell the whole story of exploitation of labour. At the same time, the profits of colliery com- panies have recently been substantial in most cases, and occasionally eollo.snl. There is the report, for instance, of the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company, recently published, which shows that after allowing for depreciation, income tax, and making all other provisions, there remained a balance Qf profit of £5:?9,HJH. This Compares handsomely with the ,{;:20-L1 profit for 1913, tht; last pre-war vea-r. The Company is acquir- ing another area, of coal, approximately 1,000 {teres, in the southern part of the South Wales coalfield, and is offering £ U(),876 of ordinary £1 shares at &V- per share, each shareholder being entitled to take one new share at this price for every five shares held. The existing shares are quoted at about 62 so that this right to take up new shares much below their market value is a form of bonus. It is not the first time that this company has distributed bonus in one form and another. It is estimated by Mr. Emil Danes itj the course of an a!,tide mt the subject in the'l ;ij tli(- t)i aii •• fortunate person who in 1 i_l:¡ h()!!h¡lt a hll-Il(1r"d P<??'eM Du?!y)!?h;)i'es | at !.?-acl). would, on an investment costing -L?225, not only have received dividend thereon rising to 53J per cent, per annum 'or 2? pCI'1 <-ent. on his (.r?hial outtay), but would now be possessed of shares saleable for £ 6.401. Evident- ly on the profits of tite multifarious transactions w hich take place in addition to t-lie ordinary declared profits of a concern, there are sources from which labour could be better paid. I « I j WATCH THE ENEMY. I A!ti)'jn.?'lh<' railway companies arc stiii un-1 (ier State conn'o? t?c GO\'l'nmlPnt poJiey with I regard to nationalisation has not v(,t offl- cially announced. Atr. Winston Churchill during his election campaign did say that railways were to be nationalised, but the Government has care- fully refrained from endorsing his statement. The expenditure oi the railway companies has increased to tile coll- trol period comes to an end there will he a loss on the railways of tfw COII/ltry amounting to forty million pounds a pear. In these circum- stances it is most likely that nationalisation will I) • adopted by the Government a.s a future policy. When a public service cannot he made to yield profit to shareholders, objections to public ownership are generally sot aside. We therefore look forward to railways becoming public property, but this Parliament will make the nation pay dearly Oil the transaction if it is not checked by organised Labour in the mat- ter. CAPITALIST OFFER OF BLACKMAIL. I With regard to mines, the case is different from that of railways. Titey are exceedingly profitable, and private ownership will not be set aside so readily. There is little doubt a.s to the wish to be adopted. They are opposed to nation- alis.ation because they want to keep the source of so much profitable enterprise in private pos- session. At the same time they are wise enough to know that the miners will not rest satisfied with their present conditions, and will press for their improvement, at a cost whieh will s-eriously encroacli on the profits of the owners. These astute capitalists would be quite prepared to offer substantial inducements to the miners to secure th- ir support for a system of capitalist ownership jointly agreed to hy the workers. Under such a system the owners could look for- ward to charging prices for the coal. with the approval of the miners, that would enable them to maintain their profits, and at the same time meet the itiost tleitiaiids. This is a form of Syndicalism which will in fu- ture he offered to highly organised bodies of v'.rkmcr as an alternative to nationalisation. t'tdike nationalisation, however, it would not be for the benefit of the people as a whole, but only for the benefit of the people concerned in the industry. The workers' share of the gain on the transaction, would he small, for he would still have to produce surplus-value for the pay- ment of rent, profit and interest. PROFITEERS WANT FREEDOM. I Mr. Walter iinncimail and others are busily engaged in the eudeavour to persuade the public State control of prices has been a very bad (,.v wish for freedom and competition. Attention is attracted by the opponents of State Control to the l'xd USiOll of foreign products by the Government at the suggestion of traders who are interested in keeping up prioos, j t is true that the Government, being, as it I rs. a capitalist Government, has worked in collusion with powerful commercial interests, and at their request- has given thelll protection by excluding foreign goods. Nevertheless State Control of in ice- has in the main worked for the general advantage of the public. It is control in the interests of the public that it wanted. and not, as frequently occurs at present, control in the interest of the profiteers. WHEN PROFITEERS WERE FREE. I What profiteers are after when they propose to remove State Control of prices is liberty to exploit the public as they did at the beginning of the war. One or two examples of the effect which may be expected if control of prices should be abandoned all round are available., Control was removed from rags, recently, for example. The price increased almost immediately from 1() tot20 per ton Fish was also released from control, with the result that prices are up 0° to I I;) per cent, on the varieties of fish most in demand. Small haddocks, controlled at £ 2 10s. a stone, were sold last Saturday at l £ 5 12s. Large haddocks rose from 9/6, the con- trol price, to as high as 15/6. The upward bound in prices took place in spite of the fact that the landings were verv heavv, the highest for any single day since May 10th, 1916. In France State Control of prices has not been anything like so effective as in this country. Indeed, it has almost been a dead letter, and yet [contrary to the theory propounded by Mr. Run- cinian and the capitalist press, prices so far from being low have risen so high that living became almost impossible tor ordinary people, and special measures hare had to be taken. In Mar- seilles 27 municipal shops have been opened for selling necessities, and those have brought down prices by 40 per cent. In Paris, it is stated, 15 such shops are about to be opened.

Dowlais Miners' Coup. J1 THREATENED EXTENSION OF STRIKE TO STEELWORKS. FIREMEN ACCUSED OF TREACHERY. The Dowlais miners' strike may be a grim struggle. There ,N-iden(-e tliat, the stoppage was anticipated by o^pl.eyers, Messrs. Guest, Keen and ?etth"io? i.^d.) a?dth.? p?.i"- tiotmryat'ritn?cm?n??' !J made «veli in advance. Aliiio.?t ilie lioldiii- by the workmen on Sunday of the mass meetings at which the strike dec-ion was reached, the horses de(:?l()ii 'Vi'as the I'loi-ses from the Bedlinog p'ts were hein? raised. By Tuesday the aninia! in all the Dowlais t'oni- pany's collieries wer* brought to bank., and here, hy material assistarVe to the employers in the pony-raising operations, the colliery-firemen did irretrievable harm to the workmen in their dar- ing hold-up of the owners, for the imperilling of the horses undeigro • nd would have been a po- tent factor 111 brmg'iig the Guest-Keens to an acceptance, if not ejnvietion of the justice, of the miners' demand With the animals below the surface the strike was obviously only a mat-I tor of days. Safely e.-sconced in stables, specially "I prepared a week op S(> ago for their reception, the stoppage is iiivv'tably prolonged. The fire- men—some of whom, also, are stated to have worked 01.1 the pump' at the Xantwen eollierv are to be congratuKited upon their loyalty to their masters. Ma,\ vthey receive their just re- ward' A story that has gained currency is that a few of them after -their arduous labours were invited, with patroni nig magnanimity, hy pl}e.of the bosses" to si dow n for a spell and enjoy their pipes MINERS ANGRY. Meanwhile the miners-—-who in the not very remote past rendered active support to this class of workmen—are angry, and at a mass meeting on Wednesday, in 'condemnatory resolution, intimated their determination to give expression to their resentment when the strike is over. Black-legging was further alleged at the same meeting, the miners tabulated a further demand that all men guilty of that des- picahle notion again*)- their fellow-workers should be removed before any suggestion of a settle- ment of the grievances at issue is considered. Hie strikers are :irtamaiit in their demands. They are out for t -fision fight, and in it they aie greiiti > J b\ t-Lc of a large section of other organised workers in the neighbourhood. Herein lies a possible prac- l tieal demonstration .)f the strike weapon pro- perly applied. STEELWORKERS THREATENED. 1 I- ] There are some JoU iocomome urivers ana lire- men engaged upon the Dow[a)s company's p<-r- manent ways in and about the steelworks. After carefully considering the positioi, these men pledged themselves on Tuesday night to down- tools on Friday if, in the intervening period, the owners failed to make satisfactory concessions to the miners, and, moreover, the members of the Dowlais branch of the National Union of JRail- waymeu gave the same even- ing that in the eveut of this contingency coming to pass they would not partic.ipa.t4> in any variety of work usually performed by the "loco-men" in or about the steelworks. Consequently, un- less the employers capitulate, external and jn- ternal traffic at the Dowlais works being petri- fied, the 4,000 or o.OOO men employed there will be idle this week-end, and iron and steel pro- duction wholly suspended. PROTEST ACAINST POLICE INTERVENTION I Mr. S. O. l)avies (the miners agent) informs the Pioneer that tille ii,(, annoyed at the unwarrantable hnport?t'on on Sunday to the neighbourhood of the collieries of police from Barry. Treharris ami Bargoed, for no su?estion of possible disturbances had manifested itself of po?-,ill) l c. lia,d iiiaiiif(?,sted it.el f anywhere in the area. '"Hie police," he said, were in the locality withIn a few minutes of our decision to withdi-a.ii- oil" labour was known, and the "workmen regard their presence as a dangerous invitation for .unmeessary trouble, %nd the district officials, because of the conse- quent exasperation, have to keep in constant and close touch with the men." It was reported on Wednesday that water was rising :iL. t II(, Bedlinog pit, as a sequel to the stopping of the pump and the condition of the collieries were stated to be such that it was found impossible for men to enter the workings to attend to the roadways. Nantwen Colliery was also liable to being flooded, but the pump's weie being kept at work at the Fochriw and South Tunnel pits. A procession of alwmt 100 or .')00 strikers paraded the Dow lais streets on Wednesday night and. eventually arriving at the Khymney Rail- way-station crowded so closely around the en- trance that the colliery officials living in Dowlais all failed to press through to the train by which they intended to travel to the company's pits. Good humour prevailed amongst the workmen, who intermittently chorused popular songs. Yesterday (Thursday) negotiations between the workmen and the employers was still unopened.

Why They Are Out. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE STRIKE. The natural histor-, of the strike was 1.old at the mass meeting of 2,000 men in the Oddfel-i iow.s' Ha.H on Sunday afternoon last, when j Mr. S. 0. Davies reported how he had h?cn called to attend a special meeting of the Nant- [ wen Lodge on" February 9th, called to deal with the .Minimum Wage Question, which is very acute there. 'Filings were so had there that there was a fixed determination on the part of th<> men n»t. to go to work on the following morning. The meeting had a scandalously big bundle of wage dockets before it. He had a strong objection to any colliery going on strike because they had a grievance which would justify "down tools." A grievance which would jiistify a single colliery taking such a serious step as a with- holding of labour was certainly a grievance.that would justify a whole district in downing tools at the same time. (Cheers.) A district was something more than an aggregate of isolated until yesterday (Saturday) morning. As for ad- the district itself. (Cheers.) He placed that view before Xantwen, yet had some difficulty in getting them to swallow their irritation and agree with his view. Mr. Davies then read a letter he had w ritten to Mr. Tudor Davies (com- pany agent) that same evening, asking hilll to see that the grievances were corrected by his manager at Xantwcn. One passage in the ietier read: "The manager at this colliery appears to act in complete disregard of the Minimum Wage Act." He left for the Southport Conference the next day, but immediately upon his return he went to see Mr. Tudor Davies 011 this question, the House Coal question, and several other mat- ters. He asked that au answer to the House Coal and Minimum Wage claims should b,2 ic turnod by the company agents by Saturday morning last. He rang up the company and asked to speak to Mr. Davies, but it was not known where he was. He therefore* informed th" clerk that the two problems were very serious and that Sunday's mass meeting would probably declare a. down-tools policy unless a re- ply was received before 2.30 on Sunday after- noon. ft was peculiar that when he"had given that information the clerk who did not know- where Mr. Tudor Davies could be found asked if he could come along and interview Mr. Tudor Davies at the office that morning. (Laughter., He replied that he was too busy to come, 1m: that Mr. Davies knew perfectly well the position on these two questions and the men were oniy waiting his reply. He later -sent an express mes- sage informing Mr. Tudor Davies that both he and the district officers were prepared to meet him up to 2.30 that (Sunday) afternoon. Im- mediately after the dispatch of the express mes- sage lie had received a letter from Mr. Tudor Davies regretting that lie had been unable to meet him that morning to consider these two questions which had been adjourned for fur- ther consideration at your request." That was absolutely incorrect, explained Mr. S. tl. Davies. T simply told him that T would await his reply until yesterdya (Saturday) morning. As for ad, journing in order to further discuss them T knew very well last Saturday that t here ten chances to one against my being in a position to meet Mr. Tudor Davies at all." The letter l continued "I am prepared to meet you any evening next week respecting those matters To this letter Mr. S. (). Davies replied I am fc^PV^'d at the construction yon. nlace upon our last interview. Yon will recollect that with respect to the Xantwen Colliery dispute T state] definitely that I hoped you would give instruv- tions to Mr. Cartel- (the manager) to meet the secretaries of the workmen, who had tabulated all the claims, in order to bring about a satis- factory sett lement. WARNED. I Concerning the House Coal scheme, I asked you to consider it and inform me by the end of this week. "A mass meeting has been convened for to- morrow afternoon, and in the event of no favour- able reply being received by 2.30 t-o-morrow 'Sunday), I fear the whole of the workmen in the district will withdraw their labour from Monday morni ng." He concluded by again inrormill Mr. Tudor Davies that he a.nd the district officers were pre- pared to meet him any time before 2.30 that afternoon. That correspondence, went on fr" S. 0, Davies. made it quite clear that he had taken every reasonable step to try and induce the com- pany to take some definite step with regard to the Xantwen Minimum Wage disputes and the House Coal question. He was informed that certain cases at Xantwen had been adjusted, but there were a considerable number of other cases that had not been settled. Moreover, he ob- jected strongly to the issuance of advance notes. What happened was something like this: a man was the minimum. He obtained an advance note from the manager for this amount, but this lo w as deducted from the subsequent The minimum wage Was a minimum wage, with all the emphasis on the word "minimum." THE HOUSE COAL QUESTION. -I- I Dealing with the House Coal question. Mr. S. 0. Davies-read the following letter to Mr. Tudor Davies, dated February 9th, and enclosed in the previous letter 011 the Xantwen dispute: "Dear ir, J am requested by the members of the Dis- trict Meeting to forward you and ask your fa- vourable consideration of the following matters: That house coal be supplied in future as fol- lows—thirteen loads per annum, or one load for every four weeks, each weighing lo cwts.. to all workmen responsible for a home. House coal to be supplied to all in receipt of compensation, ir- respective of length of time incapacitation has ensued. Coal to eldest son of family if father is deceased or unable to follow employment from any cause. Coal to all widows whose dead hus- bands were last employed in your company. Coal to orphans if home be kept intact. (Cheers.) Coal to be supplied at 3>9 per load to all the foregoing classes of persons living in the present recognised area. (i.e., Trelewis, Treharris, the whole of Merthyr and Cefn Coed.)" Mr. Davies met the agent of the company on this scheme and agreed to certain verbal altera- tions, making the clause respecting orphans more explicit. Mr. Tudor Davies said he cOllld not consider the scheme, since there was another scheme in existence which had been agreed upon betw een the men and representatives of the com- pany. The miners' agent pointed out that that scheme was dead, and that the men were justi- fied in repudiating any scheme of the past, since the company had failed hopelessly to carry out the conditions laid down in the old scheme. He iwarned^the company agent that the men were very serious in their demands, and asked for a j reply by Saturday morning last. He was in- clined to believe that it was an understocxl thing amongst the coal ownerf; to stop, or restrict the supply of house coal in some way or other. III view- of the company's refusal to meet their rea- sonable demands it was for the men to say what steps they were going to take to compel the Icompany to supply house coal on reasonable terms. THE WASHERY TROUBLE. Considering the third grievance. Mr. S. O. Davies said he had foolishly believed that- the dispute at the washery would have been settled long before that day. They would remember that he had told them (as had the Press) that the Conciliation Board had consented to allow the question to go before the Disputes Board. That meant the assumption of authority over diese workmen—and that meant that thw-e workmen had a claim to all the agreements of the Conciliation Board, Owing to Mr. Howell Jones being in London one week and iil another, 4 we could not appear before this Hoard. The J Washery men showed great patience under the trying circumstances of taking home a £2 4s. caricature of a living wage these days. "I con- gratulate t hem. However. I was summoned be- fore the Conciliation Board last Monday, and Mr. Tom Phillips appeared as the representa- tive of the company. Jt had been promised that our case should be t-lie firt on the Agenda of the Disputes Board at its next meeting, but last Monday the first thing that the eoalowners did was to repudiate their agreement entered into to submit this matter to the Disputes Board." Mr. Winstone told them definitely and bluntly that they were going back on the promise they had made to the workmen." The owners had turned a complete somersault, betrayed their agreement with the men's representatives and himself in particular. They refused to allow the Conciliation Board machinery to be used to deal w ith this question, but tliey were pr- pared toO ge >0 far as to appoint two men to act as arbi- trators without prejudice so far as the Concilia- tion Board was concerned. Mr. S. 0. Davies asked if they recognised jurisdiction, and was answ ered No." He then asked on w hat auth- ority they had recommended the men to return to work, and had received no satisfactory an- swer. He then flatly refused to accept their offer of arbitration. (Cheers.) We bad been sold by the eoalowners' representatives. So far as the w asheries are concerned we are back where we were when you came out on strike as a pro- test against, the treatment of these men." STRIKE DECISION. Sei eral delegates spoke of the urgency of en- forcing the demands, and it was pointed" out that the minimum wage claims were not solely confined to Xantwen. On both Washery and House Coal questions a spirit of angry deter- mination was manifested. Mr. Davies further explained that he had rung MY. i1 Jon"* on Saturday, but lie was away, and had got into communication with him that morning only to be informed that. the matter could not be dis- eus.sed because it was before the Conciliation Board. (Laughter). A resolution was moved from the body of the hall declaring a down-tool policy from that night of all colliery workmen—ostlers to bo allowed to descend on the first night to feed and clean the animals, but not to remove them from their stables—the strike to be continued until the grievances were positively settled, and no re- sumption to be made on mere promises. An amendment that notices be served on Saturday next, and the Executive's approval of the strike sought only found six supporters. Pickets w ere selected in the form of Lodge Committees for the first night (Siindiv), lodge meetings to be held on Monday. A deputation was appointed to wait upon the officials of the Fnginemen and Stokers' Society with a view to getting the issue of an instruction to withhold their labour.

Electric Theatre Mother Love," one of the most beautiful stories ever handled for the bioscops, is topping the first programme at the Electric Jlieatre next week. Suggested by the jingling lines of Kip- ling's Mother 0' Mine," the picture version is much more powerful in its appeal than the poem. It is one-of those treasures of dramatic art that live long as a standard of comparison in the mind's-eye of all who see it. Then there is an- other fuil-of-joy Chaplin "Charlie at the Show," one of the few that stand on a par with Easy Street." and One and Kiss Me." a rare and refreshing comedy. Count Bern- storff's Secrets have now been running for six weeks and each episode, complete in itself, has added to the reputation of this wonderful spy seria 1. For the second half a picturised version of Katherine L. Bobbins' great work Her Fling" is being screened as The Risky Road." It is a story of modern city life and the temptation be- setting a young and pretty though poor girl full of the joy of life. It, is one of the most power- ful sermons that has yet beei^ preached, and with Dorothy Phillips and Juamta Hansen back- ed up by Wm. Stowell in the main parts, it is a certain draw. Charlie by the Sea is the Chaplin comedy. The Romajace of Olive" has a splendid chapter, and there is a smart subordi- nate A Son at Sea." Altogether next week is a bumper. The current strong programme is made doubly interesting by the visit of Where is My Ohil- dr,pn P that has aroused so much quiet but deep discussion in the tow n. The propaganda value of this remarkable film cannot be over-estimated, and the deep note that it strikes is emphasised by the beautiful art with which the story is worked out by an unusually powerful company.

WELSH ELECTION FUND. £ s. d. Previously acknowledged 93 11 8 Skc-wen I.L.P 1 16 6 Caerphilly 0 o 0 Abergargoed f.L.P 0 10 0 Pt-nygi-ilig 1. L. I 1 0 (> Oolwyn Bay I.L.P 1 12 0 Aberavon I.L.P. Ill 0 Rhondda Socialist Societv 2 0 0 Glais 1. L. P 0 15 0 Newport I.L.P 5 10 0 Biaina I.L.P. 1 17 0 A few friends, per H. J. Sellwood 1 14 0 Abertillery T.L.P, 1 0 6 Total tII3 2 8