Pioneer

The Knutsford CO. Riots. THB Knutsford case of last Friday offered in its issue, and in the singularly unhappy comments of Judge Mellor, an outstanding example of the attitude of mind still largely entertained amongst those prejudiced against tho C.O.'s. Except for an inference in counsel's defence of I the hooligans charged with mobbing the 0.0. 's, several of whom were injured, there is nowbere in the evidence Before the Court as reported in the leading dailies, or in Sir Geo.. Cave's an- swer in the Hcrusc, any sufficient reason given for the impudent mobbing of the men. Art for oounsel's iiuggestion that the men had jeered at ,waundoo soldiers, the story is an old one in these cases, and one which has worked considerable harm and involved no little personal hardship in other cases, in which the bent evidence has gone to prove to unbiassed persons the absolute untruth of the accusation. Nor do we place much reliance upon the "complaints" that the men have previously ioatled ladies and soldiers off the footpaths of Knuteford. The treatment that the O.O. '8 receive Î8 not such aa to en- gender that surplusage of high spirits that leads to fools'-play of this description, whilst the cliaraoters M the overwhelming majority of the C.O. 's whom we have the personal pleasure of calling friends are not such ae would find ex- pression in such uncivil buffoonery. From the evidenco it would appear that patriotic Knut- ford contains elements to whom the GO. is an evesore; and it is out one step beyond that to the organisation of mob-law to work violence upon the individual C.O.'s. This is not airy imagination, 'out the sad lesson of experience in many cases these last two years. Knutsford affords nothing new in the way of attack, or defonoe, or after-treatment. It is all a repeti- tion of what has happened elsewhere, and it is time tha.t the representatives of the law recog- nised that these men are stabled in gaols and workhouses under the protection of the Home Office with whom they have entered into a con- tract that has two sides to it, and that so long as the contract holds the protection should be exercise d in such a way as to make repetitions of these offences in other garts of the country expensive "sport" to the hooligans who en- gage in it. If there is any truth in the stories of jeerings that are invariably urged and so seldom proved, then the Home Office Committee has ways and means of dealing with the of- fenders an-iongs t the 0.0. ranks that make a more mobbing look like a holiday entertain- ment. C.O.'s are no" social leper's. They are men who represent a minority opinion in this country under circumstances that call for no little courage to 8tind in the ranks of that minority. If they are to be hounded from town to town, or penned in penal establishments such as Dartmoor at the suggestion of mob-opinion, them it is time some of us reversed our opinions of British justice and English fairplay. t

The Deportation of Soermus THE order which Scotland Yard last week served on Soermus, the Russian violinist who visited Merthyr and Aberdare towards the dose of April, is one of the most mysterious incidents of the year. Soermus' command of English is so I feeble that he has great difficulty in making himself understood in the most ordinary con- ?.vormtlon, and for the same reason his potency m a propagandist of Bolshevism in this country may be regarded as absolutely non-existant. Soermus' own belief in the efficacy of Bach's music to convert unbelievers into glowing fire- brands i< one of those amiable weaknesses which we all have in one form or another, and we do not suppose that Scotland Yard shares his be- lief, or we should have hlad a raid on the music publisher's who issue the works of the masters. and a censorship order to leaders of orchestras and librarians of bands prohibiting the perform- ance of Bach me10d, whilst the Archbishops would lia ve backed up the ordinances of the secular arm by placing his fuguel music on an index e-xpurgatorins issued to choirmasters and organtsts. What then is his fanlt? If he is suspect in any way, why was he not charged and if proved guilty, punished as he should be? If he has done nothing why has this arbitrary step been taken, and en whose authority ? If we com- prehend ed Scermtis aright in our conversations with him during his few hours with us he is married to an English lady. Has she too been ordered to share her husband's exile? In any case, there is a probability that the meaning- less and reasonless action of the authorities will ha.ve serious results upon her health. So far as English Socialism is concerned the action can have no detrimental effect on our propaganda, for the authorities have not removed a propa- gandist but a comrade whom we all loved more for himself even than for the beauty of his music which he had dedicated to the entertain- ment and enlightenment of the musical tastes of the peopJe. Musicians more than Socialists should feel the> affront that the expulsion of Seermus has put upon England, for it was as a musician that he was known. The whole action is so entirely insane, that one feels a difficulty in trying to unravel it. Probably the easiest way to regard it is that the nerves of Scotland Yard or some Government department hiding behind that institution, are as tautly stretched as I th ose of :L hv-,?, ical girl who has read Dra- cula" just !?ore retiring to ræt. I )

Occasional Notes. I —. j BY "SPECTATOR." I Yet another unsolicited testimonial, this time I from "Commonsense," (27/4/18): "There is i no doubt that, both in the House of Commons and in the country, Asquith has lost prestige by his failure to vote, especially on Irish Conscrip- tion and the Man-Power Bill. Many Liberals who came up intending to vote against the Bill, abstained on finding that their leader and his Front Bench colleagues were afraid of backing their opinions. The political effect of this policy or want of policv is Ireing felt all over the oountry, as letters from officers of Liberal Associations testify. Younger Liberals are joining the Independent Labour Party in increasing numbers. From an election- eering point of view the loss of the Irish vote might easily mean the loss of a great number of Liberal seats in the next electron. Even on his own principle of expediency it is diffirailt to see how Asquith can jusrtify his break with the Irish Nationalists. At the same time the de- mand for an alternative government is growing stronger every day." » < "At Duty's Call." The "Postal and Tele- graph Record," describing the experiences of the clerks going to the office after reading Haig's famous "Backs to the WaJI" order, says: Arrived on duty, what did we find? Al- most every circuit heavily heaped wit.h waiting traffic, for the most part consisting of—what? Racing work. Upwards of three thousand tip- sters' messages had been accepted in the early hours at the C.T.O. counter, no fewer than two thousand two hundred of them being the one- horse snips of an individual expert.* Our backs to the wall! "—"Daily Xews." » The air-debate last night offered one more example of a spectacle now deplorably familiar in the House of Commons the Government as- sailed by an overwhelming weight of criticism, the defence without a leg to stand on, reduced to the customary fog-doud of romoufiage- and the vote resulting in the usual comfortable majority for the Administration. Utterly hu- miliating as this performance is for the Gov- ernment, it is hardly less so for the Hous^ of Commons. "—"Daily News," April 30th. w < WThat's the matter with Ireland?" one American asked another. Well, you see, the Allies went out to fight for the liberty of the world; and when the Irish discovered that Ire- land wasn't in the world, there began to be trouble. Applies, surely, elsewhere also. At four coursing meetings on Saturday, rabbits Vere provided for 1.50 dogs. Is that where the promised cheap rabbits are going? Daily Newa" • • m Apparently ———— is still expected to believe any mortal thing he may be told. Guess who ? I » We are not alone in oomplaining of the paper shortage. The trade papers complain that while any rubbishy alleged oomio seems to have no difficulty in getting all the paper it wants," paper can hardly be had for the most neeessary purposes of trade. P. W. Wilson, in his Amerioan Report to the "Daily News and Leader" on May 7th, after speaking of the Sinn .Feiners, of whom Mrs. Skeffington was very bitter," went on to tell us that another group talks Pacifism. The most eminent and philosophic of them is Nor- man Angell. The danger is that this movertlent, which has much quite genuine support from good Americans, may join hands with Socialists of the Larkin type. He also is active. Such agitation is compelling the government to limit the freedom of speech. Various journals are re-fused facilities through the post. The Sedition Bill passed by the Senate extends the power to private letters. Sentences up to 20 years may be given for false and disloyal statements (do manufactured atrocities come under this head? If not, why not?) "incitement, and abuse of the country, the constitution, the army, the I navy, or the flag. (These would seem to lie in a parlous state to need such defence.) A second Bill condemns associations which aim at any governmental, social, industrial, or economic change by force. The maximum sentence is, 10 years. I doubt if this latter measure will be- come law. Under existing machinery 3,000 con- victions have been obtained." Which* is it, consequence or cause, that according to ((Oom I monsense," May 11th, the anti-war Socialists seem to be growing in strength. Thus, Victor Berger, who demands that American troops should be withdrawn from Europe, polled treble his party vote in Wiscontin." "Nothing so sur- prising says the Post," has occurred since the Hillquit vote at the New York Mayorality election." On the other hand, the American Laboiir leaders are much less disposed than our Labour Party for peace negotiations. And this is natural enough, for Amerioan Labour is now in much the same statfa as British Labour was in 1915.11 Here is another interesting clipping from the I "Daily News and Leader Talking about German outrages, what does Baden-Powell mean by reproducing, at the Guildhall on Saturday the story of the little French lad alleged to have been shot by the Germans for his pro- French sympathies? When the story first made its abearance at the lieginning of the war, it was pointed out that this particular horror depended for its atrocity on a mistranslation. The German word Frangosling does not mean 'a. little French lad,' but an inhabitant of .0\1- sace-Lorraine who sympathizes with the French." The military execution of this Ger- man subject may/ as a correspondent remarks, "have been iust or unjust: it furnishes no ground for the harrowing story told at the Guildhall." What is so hard to excuse is the public repetition of this exploded story, years I after the facts have been fully set out in the Press. The case against the Germans is black enough in all conscience why weaken it by tcn-I ing tales that will bear no examination, ann merely .?ive them the opportunity of AAyin that we are malignantly-mendacious scandal- mongers?" Also, what becomes of the boasted honow of the Scouts if it doesn't include truth- fulness ? 'c Mr. Bonar Law, questioned by h. Outh- waite on the fail in,a;-off in the application for War Bonds, said he had been told it was due to the efforts of Pacifists, who were trying to discredit, the loan. What a power they must bo, then, to do it in the ceeth o: all the Gov- ernment's advertising!

S.W.M.F. Reformation. CENTRAL AUDIT DEPARTMENT SCHEMES. BY WILLIAM EDWARDS (Mountain Ash). Having recei ved a copy of the schemes drafted by the Central Executive tor the purpose of set- ting up an Audit Department, which will be de- oided upon a,t. the next annual conference in June, I have taken some care to study the same. The Council in submitting these schemes KtaK? that they wi-?h to ?ve a further oppor- tunity to the lodf of considering the practi- CAbHity or -necessity of the whole of th? books of the districts and lodges .being sent to the Central Office for audit by a permanent ;tgyl (Scheme No. 1), or whether by a more limited scheme the same objects would be obtained be which each di*rtriet would conduct the audit of the books of their several lodges, and the I counts of the districts to be audited at the Cen- tral Office (Scheme No. 2). Assuming that the primary object to be ob- tained is the placing of the financial side of the Organisation upon sound business lines, and ap- plying the test of efficiency with economy to both schemes, I havo no hesitation in stating that the comparison between the schemes is so great that it makes one wonder what the Cen- tral Executive was about. Scheme No. ] is as follows — (1) The Council to make the following ap- pointments: (a.) A ciii,-f audit officer, who shall bo under the control of the Council and general secretary; (b) three clerks, who shall be under the control of the chief audi I. officer. (2) Tliere sfrali be provided by the districts and lodges duplica-te books of account of a uni- form character from a model provided by the OoiVneil. (3) District a.nd lodgo officials must, imme- diately after the 30th of and the 31st of December, or within 14 days from those dates, forward all their books, vouchers, and receipts, with two copies of their annual balance-sheets, to tho Central Office for audit. (4) The books, after being audited, shall lie, if found correct, certified and signed by the chief audit officey-. (5) The books to be returned toO the districts and lodges before the 1st of July and the 1-t of January each year. (6) The Audit Department shall prepare an Annual Statement of the whole of the Federa- tion, which shall lie reported to the* Council, printed a.nd issued to the lodges and districts, and submitted by the chief audit officer to the annual conference. (7) The chief audit, oflker shall be invested with the authority to demand when neoessary the production of members' contribution cards, any document, voucher, receipt, etc., for the- completion of tho audit. (8) The committee recommend that the salaries be fixed as follows-: (a) Chief audit officer, £ .300 per annum; (b) one clerk at JMOO per annum two clerks at £ 150 per annum. (9) The chief officer and clerks shall devote their whole service to the work of the Central Office. (10) The Council recommend that applications for these posts be invited from Federation mem- bore only. A GOOD SCHEME. I This scheme is undoubtedly the best one, and is a good step towards placing the organisation on a sound business footing. It gives the neces- sary opportunity to co-ordinate the Central dis- tricts and lodge accounts, while it leaves them abla to deal with their own legitimate financial affairs as freely as in the past. It provides for an annual statement of the whole of the Feder- ation, a tiling that has not been done during the history of the organisation. It has the merit of employing direct Labour, and an ap- proximate cost of tlw department can be given by estimating rent of office, damage of books, and materials such as pens, ink, pencils, station- ery and waste paper for scrap, and adding to the salaries already given, and I venture to state that it will actually cost le-q" than the pre- sent methods. The stan' ?-iH ? under the direct supervision of the chief auditor "d by co-op(,m-I tion will be able to greaiJy facilitate the work of auditing. I To thoroughly complete this scheme and make l it equal to anything that could be suggested by a qualified accountant I should include the fol- lowing suggestions That the chief audit officer should be a qualified accountant; that the Columnar System of book-keeping be adopted; that Rule 19 he deleted and the following sub- stituted — "REMOVAL OF MEMBERS.-—Any member re- moving from one colliery to another shall, if his I contributions and other payments are fully paid, notify the secretary of the lodge connected with the colliery from which he is removing of such removal. The secretary shall then forward his transfer to the Central Office. Such member must notify the secretary of the lodge, con- nected with the colliery he has removed to im- mediately after his employment thereat, and the secretary shall Rend to the Central Office for such member's transfar. and he shall thereupon after and on paying the contributions and other payments which have accrued due since the date of his Last payment, be considered a financial member of the lodge connected with the colliery, and such lodge shall accept full responsibility for such member." « That Rule 36 bo deleted and the following substituted; LODGE THEASCRKH .—The lodge treasurer shall receive all monies receivable by the lodge and bank the same at the first available oppor- tunity in the name of the lodge. He shall pay all mon ies payable by the lodge and obtain pro- per receipts thereof. He shall pay all firms of ki and over by cheque, and all sums le" than R- I from a petty cash account, and shall keep a correct account thereof. He shall at no time hold more than £5 in hand for petty casll pur- poses. He shall withdraw the necessary monies from the bank on the day that the lodge is open for contributions to provide change for mem- bers paying their contributions, and shall bank the same again at the first available opportun- ity. He shall attend all meetings of the lodge or of its committees, and shall answer all ques- tions relating to the financial position of the lodge which may be addressed to him. He shall give such security for the faithful fulfilment of his duties as shall from time to time be deter- mined by the lodge." Add after word "so in the last line of Rule 37 (Lodge SeNetary): He shall on no ac- count receive contributions from members ex- c-ept Postal Orders sent by members who have removed from the district and are desirous of having their transfers forwarded. Any contra- vention of this regulation to be considered an offence for which he shall be removed from office. Any member desirous of paying his con- tributions at any time other than when the lodge is open. shall pay his contributions to the treasurer, who shall give him a receipt for same. Such member shall deliye-r the receipt to the Secretary, who shall thereupon enter the amount into the lodge contribution book and member's card. 20 ACCOUNTS AGAINST 425. The following i a lifct of the districts and number of Lodges composing each, which in turn comprise the whole of the S. W .M.F. Add the Central to these totals and you have the number of accounts that is necessary to be dealt with according to the Directorv issued in 1910-11 Anthracite district, 71 lodges; Aberdare, 20; Biaina, 13 Dowlais, 18; Eastern Valley, 18; Fast Glamorgan. 6; Ebbw Vale, 13; Garw, 10) Maesteg, 16; Merthyr, 12; Monmouth and ( stern Valley, 18 Ogmore and Gilfaeh. 7; Pontypridd and IUlOnrlda. 24; Rhondda "No. 1, 39 Rhymney alley, 29: Saundersfoot, 1; Taff and Cynon, 10; Tredegar Valley. 26 Western District. 65. Total number of districts 1H (add Central Fund, 1), 20 accounts. Total number of lodges, 425 accounts. (Mr, Edwards' criticism of the Alternative Scheme will appear next week).

I.L.P. Welsh Conference BIG GATHERING EXPECTED FOR JUNE 1. Tire Welsh branches will hold their annual conference on Saturday, June 1st. not on May 25th as originally intended. It will be held in the Ruskin Institute, Cardiff, and will be pre- sided over by tho ivov. George Neighbour. De- legates should verify suitable trains beforehand because of the restricted service. The Report for the year shows great progress i—a larger income, a big increasse of membership I and many new branches. The latest additions are the RYDoa. and Drefach branches. This is very encouraging. I Tho visit to the conference of the National organiser, Comrade H. Brook house, who will speak on "Organisation," is looked forward to with a. great deal of interest. He has certainly stimulated attention to this department by his practical proposals in furtherance of which he is also mooting tire branch secretaries at various centres to confer with them.

A German on Annexionist Peace "ENDLESS ARMAMENTS; ENDLESS MIL- LIARDS, AND ENDLESS TAXES. GOLDEN AGE NOT THE OUTCOME OF TERRfTORIAL EXPANSION. The "Manchester Gua-rdian" recently had an interesting article on As the Germans See It, from which one gathered that there is a strong sane element in Berlin who have not been carried away from the Reichstag Resolu- tion. The Guardian finds pleasure that Theodor Wolff, writing in the Berliner Tage- blatt," should speak such sound commonsense. Hero is the translation of Wolff's -trticre: When the taxer< are piling up and at the same time the military situation seems to become more and njore favourable, it is only natural that the number of those people who want to get and keep a<s much as possible, should rise, and that even inanl y Liberals should yield to the annexa- tionist spirit, and reflection, which knows how to deal with the effects of such a policy of force and seeks success elsewhere, should lose some of its influence. As I have often said before, it would be the beht thing for the Left, inasmuch ns it has not fill become Pan-Germanised and is not at the beck of every wind that blows, if a Gov- ernment should come which should meet in every detail with the wishes and ideas of the industrial- ists and the Fatherland party. At p'^esent we. are living in vague condi- tionR step by step ground is being given, as in the m-se of Polish territory, and the Left feel* obliged to give way, because it thinks it is help- ing to govern the Empire. Don't lot people imagine that ifnder a Government blessed by the Pan-Germans things would be very different from what they are under a so-called Majority Gov- ernment. If one day _it were to transpire that an honourable peace, was to lie obtained and that annexationist plans hindered it endlessly, the annexationist hegemony would soon disap- pear, and if England, France, and America, were subjugated, then annexations would take place with or without any Government, and the co- operating Reichstag Majority would Rt&nd to one side unquestioned. It can be no pleasure at all to bear a respon- sibility without co-operating in the decision, and to lose the advantage which usually results for short or long from a decisive attitude. For let us suppose that thorough-going annexations ac- cording to the best recipes could be put through the nation would thpa quickly notice that there was something wrong with the bill, and a great deal was left to be desired. Trade and commerce would not restore themselves so quickly, and for the defence of all the annexations endless arma- ments, endless milliards, and endless taxes would be needed. The golden age will probably not blossom from a policy that seeks salvation only in the extension of territory."