Rhondda Leader Maesteg Garw and Ogmore Telegraph

niabon in Fighting Form. Unanimously Selected as Candidate. Trenchant Criticism of Alien's Act. Offer of Imported Foreign Labour Mr. If. Abraham (Mabon), M.P., was ^aanimoflslsr elected as Labour candidate for tha Rhondda in the coming; election, and th* District Council was appointed as an Hlaofcion Committee to make the necessary arrangements for conducting the oampatiga. with power to add to their number. Opijtion was also expressed that all assistance, from whatever quarter, should be welcomed. The veteran leader, who was present at the meeting, was hailed with enthusiasm, and was visibly imprawsd by the reception and praise showered wpoa him as the hero of many fights. Rising "to acknowledge the tribute, Mabon said that, politically speaking, the struggle of the age was upon them— (hear, heart-and all present would be glad to learn that it was to be a fight to a finish (hear, hear). An unfortunate part of the present election was that it oame upon them in South Wales at a very inopportune moment. South Wales would be affected by it more than any part of the United Kingdom for two reasons. In. the first place, it would stag- nate trade. They were already suffering from stagnation of trade, and all the blame for the decreased output of coal would be attributed to the Mines Eight Hours Act. No one seemed to have taken cognisance of the immeasurable damage done to the coal trade by the notice given by the owners last summer to ter- minate contracts. Again, at his age he would hardly be able to fight two great battles at the same time, and so in the political fight he was afraid he would have to depend largely upon the efforts of his supporters. An election had been unnecessarily thrust upon them in the Rhondda-a fight which was admittedly a hopeless one as far as their opponents were concerned—a fight forced upon them to keep him at home. But he (Mabon) would be at home this time for a double cause. Not only would trade be stag- nated, but the requisite negotiations for the new wage agreement in the South Wales coalfield would be greatly em- barrassed, if not totally suspended, until after the election. This would not be the miners' fault. Those who had forced upon them the political fight in the Rhondda must be held responsible for the position created (hear, hear). They .were that day joining all the progressive politicians throughout the country in the expression of indignation and resentment at this last and culminating act of the House of Lords in throwing out the People's Budget. PBOPLB MUST GOVERN. They had usurped the rights of the House of Commons and aimed to curtail the liberties of the nation. The rejection of the Budget by the Lords had created a very grave crisis indeed. If the Lords succeeded in the present election, then they would win the right to have every Budget in future framed to their liking, or they would reject it and dissolve Par- liament. Personally, he was getting on in years, but he was prepared to devote the remainder of his political life to fight this one great battle as to who were to I jgovem the country-the Peers or the people (cheers). He was afraid the fight would not finish in one round (laughter). If the House of Lords were to obtain the supreme place in the Constitution, then the democracy might just as well give up their polling booths, aestroy their ballot boxes, be docile and obey the dictates of the House of Lords, and cast the rights of the people aside. The whole system of democratic government under such con- ditions would be a sham and a fraud. It was therefore a fight for the very exist- ence of democratic government. In the words of a great politician he would ask them, as far as the Rhondda was con- cerned, to agree with him that they would be prepared to fight to abolish the veto of the Lords in regard to all kinds of legislation as well as in finance- (applause)—or let the House of Lords go altogether (renewed applause). The people and the people alone must govern (hear, hear). Were the Lords to win this elec- tion, all the glorious work accomplished by their forefathers would be swept away, and they would go back 300 years at a stroke. It was not necessary for him to enumerate the number of democratic measures that had been rejected by the Lords. REPLY TO CONSERVATIVE CANDI- DATES. As a Radical he was in favour of all those rejected measures, but there was one question which as a Labour leader he must select from all the others to fight this battle upon, and when it was named they would agree that ample reason was afforded why every worker in the country of whatever political colour should join in the effort to have the House of Lords shorn of its power to reject any measures at all. It was to the Aliens Act that he referred. Both the Conservatives—when they were in power —and the House of Lords rejected a measure directed to prevent foreign labour being brought into this country under contract. With the Liberal Government in power such a measure was passed through the Commons without division, and was ruthlessly thrown out by the Lords. That was the peg upon which he was going to hang his hat (laughter, and" Hear, hear "). The Tory candidate for the Rhondda, as they were aware, commenced his political campaign with an eulogy of the Aliens Act and a condemnation of himself (Mabon) for voting against it. It had also been stated that the Miners' Federation had. ex- pressed itself in favour of this Act. That, upon inquiry, had been found to be in- accurate, and the fact was that every Labour member in the House of Commons had voted against the Act and in favour' of Mr. Keir Hardie's amendment, for they were unanimous as to the inequity upon which the Act was based. INCONSISTENCY OF THE LORDS. The pretence was that the Act would prevent poor aliens coming into this country and taking the work out of the hands of British workmen. But this pre- tence was simply the slim daughter of hypocrisy" (laughter, and hear, hear). Though the Act had prevented in one sense the individual destitute alien from coming into the country, and some of these were pure political refugees, the Act also applied to Britishers who had become citizens of other countries, so that if a Welshman who had become a citizen of the United States was reduced to strained circumstances and endea- voured to return to his native country, he could not do so. If the object of the Act was to prevent the Britisher being ousted by the foreigners, where was the consistency of rejecting a. proposal that foreigners should not he allowed to come into this country under contract? There was no provision in the Act which would prevent thousands and tens of foreigners being imported under, contract (Shame). Some peonle might say that this was all bosh and humbug," and that such a contingency would never occur. If so, why was the Labour men's proposal re- jected P As a matter of fact, such was the case in Europe to-day, and, sad to1 relate, some Englishmen had been taken to Antwerp by the Free Labour Union on the occasion of a dispute on the Continent between the employers and tkeir work- men. FOREIGNERS TO ORDER. The question was far better understood on the Continent than it was in this country. Last summer, when they in South Wales were engaged in negotiations for a provisional agreement on the ques- tion of the Eight Hours Act, a letter came to the hands of Mr. Robert Smillie and himself—by mistake, no doubt—while the conferences were taking place between the owners and the men's representatives. The letter was no doubt intended for the. secretary of the Mining Association, to whom it was subsequently handed. After reading the letter that gentleman re- marked, We will have nothing to do with that (laughter). The letter was as follows — '• Rzesxow, June 10, 1900. To the Honourable Mineowners, Gentlemen,-From reports in the international Press we notice that one of the most important subjects of discussion at this year's conference of the Mining Companies of Great Britain will be how to ameliorate the present labour con- ditions, and if possible avoid the unjust encroachment of organised labour tyranny. Permit us, therefore, to offer you a way, if acceptable to this confer- ence or to any other individual mining company, which will eventually no doubt prove to be the one possible way to repel the attacks of the unions. The undersigned is representative of a consortium exporting agricultural and industrial labourers to Germany, France, and Scandinavia. Wherever he comes the Polish labourer is welcomed as a hard-working, obedient and frugal man. The coal mines of Germany, and espe- cially of the United States of America, are run chiefly and most satisfactorily by Polish labour. The chief virtue of the Pole is that he counts not the hours of labour, works willingly from 10 to 12 hours a u.ay, adapts himself to any kind of circumstances and conditions. We are capable of supplying the mines of Great Britain with any unlimited number of men. No responsibility rests upon the employers. We house feed, and transport the men at ou own risk. All that is required of the employer is a definite wage scale per day or hour, and the em- ployment of an agreed upon number of men throughout the entire year. We are ready to enter into communi- cation with the companies individually or with the honourable conference as a body, and should a satisfactory understanding be possible, I and two representatives of the company will immediately leave for London to attend to this matter in per- son. Trusting that the honoured confer- ence will give this offer due consideration. and awaiting the honour of a reply.—I am, very respectfully, Isaac Watchet, junr." OPEN DOOR FOR STRIKE BREAKERS "Let us sincerely hope," proceeded Mabon, that the day will never come when the workmen of these Valleys will have to revolt against the introduction of these obedient, adaptable, frugal, and hard-working fellow-creatures, who count not the hours of labour (Shame). 13ut forget not the fact that the Tories when in power ruthlessly rejected in the House of Commons the provision proposed by the Labour Party to prevent such a catastrophe coming about, and that when the Liberals carried the. clause the House of Lords with equal ruthlessness rejected it (Shame). Therefore, the door is still open for these foreigners—strike breakers —to be planted anywhere in our mines, on our railways, and in our factories. Why did not the Lords before rejecting that Act ask the people of the country whether they required such a protective provision against contracted foreign labour? No, they. did not, and the pre- sent action of the Lords was only a mere pretence of their regard for the people, while underlying it all was the selfishness of their own ends. The fight is upon us, therefore look out for squalls" (ap- plause). Mr. Tom Evans (agent) agreed with Mabon that the two fig)its-the election and the making of a, new wage agreement -could not go on simultaneously. The miners had not courted the political fight, but inasmuch as they were chal- lenged, they must carry it on triumph- antly (hear, hear). He had not the slightest doubt that Mabon would obtain as big a majority as ever. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded; the Old Man," and he waa reassured of the hearty support of the miners, in the interests) of whom lio has consistently devoted the major part of his strenuous ¡ life. t