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I THEATRE ROYAL & EMPIRE PALACE, Merthyr jI Licensee—Mr. Will Smithson. Resident Manager-Mr. Fred Dry. { 6.30 TWICE NIGHTLY. 8.30 | I Week commencing MONDAY, JULY Mnd, 1918. I I .o.day and TMMday Wed.e.ùJ and Thursday I j THE WOMAN, WHO ATONED I THE MAN OF MYSTERY! |I I Friday (by Specie Request- ? THE DUMB MAN OF MANCHESTER. I Satnrday The Evergreen and Popular Drama, I I MARIA MARTIN; or The Murder in the Red Barn. I pw Circle, 1/- Stalls, 9d. Pit, 6d. Gallery, 3d. | PLUS NEW TAX. IMHMiaHHMIflMHHlJ r" II II j Merthyr Electric heatre j ¡ I MerthIcomcDO!UIY !eatre I £ CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE FROM 2.30 TILL 10?0 P.M. DAILY. J ? Monda1 Tu..da, and WeOnewd&y— I MADAME BUTTERFLY I Featuring Mary Pickford. I ? A LASS OF THE LUMBERLANDS—Part 6. I I THE BUILDING OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE-Part 3. f COURTS AND CABARETS. Pathe's Gazette. I j Pathe's Gazette, &c. I 2 Thursday, Friday, and Saturday— 2 MARTA of The Lowlands £ Featuring Madame Bertha Kalich. 2 I THE RED ACE-Part 13. Pathe's Gazette, &c. I I THE BASE DECEIVERS. J I COMINQI A DAUGHTER OF THE QODS S COM!NQS ?X:??.A DAUGHTER OF THE GODS S I ADMISSION 3d.-Tax, Id.; 6d.-Tax, 2d.; ?——Tax, 3d. I I Children's Performance at One o'clock on Saturdays. I • Ordinary Saturday Performawe starts at 3.30 o'clock. Other Days 2.30 as ustw. I L.. II II .1 THE SECRET TREATIES By F. SEYMOUR COCKS. Preface by CHARLES TREVELYAN, M.P. CoHected Texts, Notes, and Maps. The .fACH'TERG'JARD.A.. says: To the izreat majority of English citizens these documents are still unknown, although, as an expression of the (Kplomatic mind which is still ruling Europe, their importance cannot be exaggerated. Mr. Cocks has done a public service in gathering them together, and making them aval; a bit in a permanent fr rm. First edition said out in ten days. Second Edition now ready. Order to-day. 2/- net, 2j2 post free, from the Union of Demo- cratic Control, 4-7 Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C.4. BOOKS THREE ESSENTIALS IN THE SOCIALIST I ARMOURY. SOCIALISM AFTER THE WAR 1/ By J. R. MACDONALD, M.P. THE STATE 1/3 By WILLIAM PAUL. INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM AND THE MINING INDUSTRY ij- By GEORGE HARVEY. The Democrats Handbook to Merthyr 6d., reduced to Id., Postage 2d. (A Mme of local Historical and Industrial Information). OUR SHOP, Pontmorlais, Merthyr HOPE CHAPEL, MERTHYR, SUNDAY, JULY 21st, 1918. Rev. J. Morgan Jones, M.A. A CORDIAL WELCOME EXTENDED TO ALL I.L.P. HALL, GRAIG SQUARE, PONTYPRIDD SUNDAY, JULY 21st, 2918, at 6.30 p.:m. sharp A. P. YATES (Editor, Merthyr Pioneer ') will speak. Branch Meeting.—Saturday, July 20th, at 7.15. ARE WE DOING YOUR PRINTING? We have the most modern equipment, and good work is quiokly turned out by Trade Unionists at reasonable rates. NOTE THE ADDRESS THE LABOUR PIONEER PRESS MERTHYR, TROEDYRHIW AND DISTRICT CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY, LTD. HEAD OFFICE: TROEfDYRHIW. TO PAINTERS. WANTED.—Tenders for Painting Aherfan W Butcher Shop, also Troiidyrhiw Butcher Shop (inside work). Partieulars of same on the ml.?'es. Tenders to be sent addressed to the tZ%irman, marked ?- Tenders for Painting."

I Now for The International! MR. ARTHUR Henderson's announcement on Saturday last that replies in consonance with the Inter-Allied Socialist War-Aims bad been received from the Majority and Minority sec- illons of the Social Democrats of the Central Powers is without doubt tie most important an- nouncement of the war. That announcement of a readiness on the part of the workers of all Europe to meet on a oommon platform with a common programme for the oemmon good is not only a. splendid justification of the faith which has animated us during the terrible four years behind us, a faith that ha* withstood the malignant abuse and even physical violence that ha.s been offered to us; ;t is also the, world's only guarantee that Miitarism can be defeated, and i the path of progress smooth od and made safe from the attacks of misguided, atavistic Im- perialists whose philosophy of the club ha* so mysteriously obsessed a world that has been ouilded upon, inter-relation and collective 00- j operation, and which, therefore, has historically left the era when dub can serve it to any ad- vantage whatever. Woo who had culled the les- son from history and sociology knew that long before 1914, but it needed a great war, with its mercilessness and chaos to teach the lesson even in a rudimentary form to the great masses. But the lesson is grasped to-day, and more .and more folks are looking across the artificial border- lines of nations to the International for a solu- tion that will alone offer the probability of finality and security. Economic production had Ilong; ere the war broken the barri.e tha.t had been drawn upon the face of the earth by the philosophers of drum-aoadrtrampet nationalism; the alliance, interests and sympathies of the manufacturing circles were not confined within the limits of a; language or a constitutional t;ht, manufacturers of Lancashire and Yorkshire were allied to the cotton-growers of the rebel United States for the supply of raw materials on the one hand, and to the dyers of I Germany on. the other as buyers of tho finished próduOU: of thfir looms; and that, bond of the purse represented a much stronger link than ex- isted between the manufacturers' societies and the agrieulturaListe of the Home Counties. And what is true of cotton-planter, manufacturer, and dyer is typical of the economic destruction of national barriers on practically every field of developed production and exchange. Still closer were the bonde of International Labour; for w herever Capitalism had established itself there the workers were faced with identical pr< .bleins, problems differing in degree of intensity, but never varying in kind. International Labour had one enemy, an enc'm.y that resided as strongly within the oorderf" of its own national states as without. The perceptions of its unity of suffering, of exploitation, and of victimisation by the same vicious system was not so clear as were the economic interests of the Capitalists, partially because, of the indirect manner in which the exploitation is conducted and par- tiaJly us a result of the ignorance and poverty into which the wage. worker is degraded, rpeal- I he German or English, French or American. But slowly the consciousness of unity awoke; La- bour struggling and organising at home realised the sympathetic bonds that stretehed ahroad I and the common nature of its problems wherever domiciled under Capital's regime. The mis- fortune was that the bonds had only been established betwixt the militants of the varied national movements to a degree that would with- stand the unintelligent waves of hate and mis- representation that bettigerieiu-.y dictate as part of the machinery of warfare, the huge masses but superficially informal were carried away by the Jingoes and Chauvinists of their own ton- gues, only to pay for their desertion of their truer ideals in blood and agony and wealth and well-being. The few who saw beneath the sur- face held strongly to their International prin- ciples, inspired by the loftiest ideal that ever enthused man; and working against the stream ultimately were enabled to take advantage of the slowly dawning perception of the truer and more lasting relationships to point out the sure path; to re-establish communications, and re- vivify the proletariat masses with the sociolo- gically true philosophy of mutual interdepend- ence. To-day the masses agam dimly perceive the Socialist truths, there is a new spirit of bro- therhood abroad, or rather the old spirit again walks the earth, and in it alone is to be found an end to this and all wars. Contact has been re-established, the logical outcome must be the calling of the International; a task that should present few difficulties in England, since our Premier has once enunciated the broad principles to discuss which the Socialists of the world de- sire to meet together. From the International alone can go forth the dynamic of a Socialist pea.ce; from the mingling of like elements in all nations for a common end can the inspiration of the progressives be drawn and oommon human- ity informed as to the true thought of the world's work-er&the necessary preamble to a workers' peace. No longer must governments and caucaujses be allowed to block the way to Stockholm. With that way clear peace is within measurable reach. On, then; work for the In- I ternational as you have never worked before.

I The Gas Strike. THE Merthyr gas workers who are on strike have the sympathy of all thinking men and women in the locality, and that despite the re- fusal of the kitchen jet to boil the kettle and the disinclination of the incandescent mantle to do more than give a poor imitation of a farthing dip. We are hearing, of course, the usual rub- bish from persons who have never learned, either from the excellent works available or from actual experience, how accurate a descrip- tion of the workers' wage is the phrase. sub- sistence -illowance." What these people seem to forget all the time is that no worker faces a strike, with its concomitant horrors, unless the urge of conditions is imperative. Working men faaod with a situation that leaves a majority of them within seven days of absolute poverty, need something stronger than sheer cussedness to persuade them to sacrifice wage and under- take a strike that may easily leave them work- less and wageless. Gas-wôrkea-s have always been numbered amongst the unskilled and semi- skilled workers, a category that meant on the average a wage somewhere around a pound or twenty-five shillings a week before the war; and when one comes to regard such a wage ae that even with bonuses and increases totalling from 16/- to a Pl a week, in the Light of to-days prices, one is surprised that the revolt has been delayed so long. In this particular instance the claim of the company that they are adher- ing to a private award specifically chosen by their employees themselves, though offering an apparently sounder argument than is usually at the disposal of the Capitalists in disputes with the Unions, still falls to the ground when the national amd collective nature of the men's organisetaon-s are recognised. The power of a particular firm's employees to negotiate a separ- ate agreement with a particular firm cannot be heM binding in the light of the collective bar- gaining between master and man throughout an industry. Wherever such an agreement is come to it can only lie recognised wh ere the standard is higher than the minimum or the industry; and just as the employer in the absence of special conditions would be commercially justified in depressing the wages of his employees to the standard rate of his district, notwithstanding an agreement to the contrary, so the worker cannot he bound to observe an agreement that leaves him worse off than his reHow in his own industry and industrial organisation. Before the Merthyr masters can argue justly from the standpoint they have taken up: they have to prove that the withdrawal of their represen- t,ation from the National Gas Council effected the issue of the general agreen>ent in such a. way as to modify that agreement adversely to them; a modification due. entirely, be it under- stood ,to the withdrawal of their representa- tion. No thinking nian entertains the idea for a moment that the representation of the. Mer- thyr Ga? Compa.ny in the National Council during those negotLM.ions would have been pro- ductive of a national result other than that which was the outcome of the negotiations. The only )ogic they have advanced is that their em- ployees having mitdo a bad bargain and having the power to get out of it, are using that power. Such conduct might be reprehensible if the wage-system as a wboie was not so damnably immoral. As it is the workers have our very best wishes.

Capitalism: Its Origin & Development I BY TED WILLIAMS. I ) THE FINAL RESULTS. I The final results of this policy of expropria- tion was two-fold, directly helping to create the capitalist syste,t; of production. By the massing together of great quantities of land and the rise of largo farms the rapid development of agriculture we& made possible. New methods of CUltdx-a6on irrigation, a.nd manuring only ap- plicable on a Iarü soa?e. could now Im? intro- duced. The productibality of agriculture w¡¡- accelerated enormously. Thus was laid the basis of capitalist agriculture At the r-;1me tune the mass of propertyless wage-workers, '.created by this policy, gave rise to the essential condition for the development of capitalist in- dustry. The free-workman had been created. A type able to comply with the demands of the capitalist world market. A worker who was en tirely economically dependent upon the em- ployers, and who possessed the boon of personal freedon-)--freodoni to roam about capitalist society in search of a master as a means to ob- tain a shoe of bread. We, as Marxists, do not complain about the treatment the workers have received at the hands of the drum-and-trampet- histariar. or identity of interest economist. Suf- fice it to say that we view with shame, that thev e,ould not have bread and cheese guaranteed for writing better stuff. Let us now look for a moment at the evil effects of this process of expropriation upon the workers. They were freed" in such numbers that, the nacent and developing manufactures of this country could not absorb them at once. Further, they had been agriculturists and could not easily adapt themselves to the needs of in- dustry, which was based upon Bkilled laoonr, re- quiring long periods of training. Hence the im- mediate effect was a.n inormous increase in the mass of beggary, vagaljondage and crime. Al- though they had Hecn compfulsorily transformed from peasants earning their livelihood into bt-g- gars and criminals by economic development and the thirst for profits from the woollen trade ihe lords themselves. Parliament treated them as voluntary criminals and commenced to deal with th eút from that standpoint. Such conduct han been true of every J'uhng la?s, inf?udin? the pfr?sent. They sHddle the workers with th? K?poofrihi'hty of the evil results of Abeir own economic system. TO BE CIONTIN-UED. I ——M

Auditor Challenged. I MERTHYR GUARDIANS' APPEAL AGAINST S,695 SURCHARGE. The propsoal of the district auditor (Mr. M. D. Propert) to surcharge thirteen of its mem- bers for £ 69-5 13s. led to a. decision by the Mer- thyr Boa.rd of Guardians on Saturday to peti- tion the Local Government Board agiiinst the adoption of the course recommended. Set out in detail in the petition the items of the surcharge were iM50 for the six months ending March 3Lst, 1916, and £ 330 for the half- year ending September 30th, 1916, both being amounts wiped off the books as irrecoverable in respect to outdoor relief given during the 1912 coal strike; and £ l-r> 13s. written off in the notorious Barry maintenance case for the six months I :3Oth, 1916, this sum t-eing made up by the difference between the maintename order of 12ts. a week fixed by the magistrates when the workmen concerned, as defendant in the case, was originally proceeded all a.nd the 2/6 a, week order made by the guardians subsequently, and which in lieu ot the larger order ivas afterwards imposed by the guardians for payment. In the petition, the guardians challenged the auditor to prove his statement, that (I owing to the dilatory methods adopted by the guardiians and negligence in enforcing: payments the suras dw," were in a very large number of cases allowed to become irrecoverable or were otherwise ille- gally written off," and repudiated the sugges- tion that the guardians neglected their duty In any way. With regard to sums wiped out as ir- recoverable because of failure to trace debtors on account of changes of addresses they pointed out that this was. done on the suggestion of the auditor himself as it was useless carrying for- ward the arrears from time to time. Touching upon the auditor's remark that more frequent meetings should liave been held, tlit, v retorted that members of the board are not full-time officials like the auditor. On the Barry case the auditor contended that the guardians had no power to interfere with the magistrates' order, but the guardians point- ed out that they were advised (and, in their opinion, rightly so) that if there were special circumstances in any individual case, they had the right. to deviate from a magistrates' order by wiping off the arrears or temporarily suspend, ing their collection. _"0._+_'

pressed by Herr von Kiihlmann did not appear relevant to the present situation; and Lord Cufjson's submission was that the present mo- ment when a big offensive was being carried on was >iii.ularly ill-chosen for a discussion of peace terms. The motion was withdrawn.

Our Purblind Diplomacy. I THREE OPPORTUNITIES THAT HAVE BEEN LOST, I AND THEIR EFFECTS IN GERMANY. The latest critic of our Diplomacy is Lord Wimborne, whose criticism of the foolish treat- ment of the Cent.ral Powers' peace feelers at the hands of our Foreign Office has been the fea- ture of Parliamentary life this week. The text of Lord Wimborne's plea is that a clear enun- ciation of our terms in reply to Czernin and Kuhlmann would have been the greatest moral blow that the Pan-Germanist could have had, and that, therefore, our diplomacy has failed utterly to take advantage of excellent situa- tions, a, point which Socialists have urged over and over again. The noble critic's opportunity arose from his mot-iou-- That in the reception accorded to enemy peace proposals more regard should be paid to the opportunities such occasions afford for defining our own terms, and for discrediting militarism in the eyes of the people of the Central Empires themselves. He drew attention to the speeches delivered in the German Reichstag by Herr von Kuhl- mann on the 24th June and by Count Hertling on July 11th. The former, he said, he regarded as a "peace offensive." launched in the hope lof stiffening and consolidating the warlike sen- timent in the Central Empires by attempting to place on our shoulders the responsibility for the continuance of the war. Whatever else was discernable from the Kuhlmann incident, it. was dear that there was a great body of sane or even pacific feeling in Germany, to which Von Kuhlmann obviously appealed, and which even the General Staff could not afford to ignore. What happened. Herr von Kiihlmaun having been put up to placate these moderates a fort- night was allowed to elapse before he was dis- avowed. No answer to his speech being forthcoming in the meantime from the Allies, it could plausibly lie asserted that such peace hopes as he voiced were vain and fruitless. In confirmation of this view we had Count Hertling s speech, which con- tained a. frank admission not only of the exist- ence of moderate as opposed to military opinion, but also of the necessity of bringing it into line with the latter. In on.r handling—or perhaps rather lack of handling—of these enemy peace offensives, we had consistently played into the hand* of the military party in Germany. That was certainly the opinion of friendly and independent ob- servers in neutral countries. To have contri- buted to Ki'ihlmatin's fall beoause lie did not fully satisfy our [>eaee aims a grievous m istake. A CONCRETE EXAMPLE. It might be saia—What could we dor He would take a concrete ease—the negotiations of Rrest-Litovsk. There Count Czernin, speaking for the Governments of the- Central Powers, stated on December 28 that they were prepared to negotiate a general peace on the basis of— No forcible acquisition of territorr, and with- out war indemnities provided that within a. suit- able period, without exception and without any reserve, all the belligerent Powers bound them- seives to such conditions." I submit, said Lord Wim borne, that is a pro- position which, without fra-ud or chicane on our tM-rl., we could a.t the time Tmve arrr*pte<]- suc- ject, periiaps, to some minor adjustments—as constituting at its face value an admission of the main part of our case. For Germany, driven back within her pre-war frontier, with- out booty or prize of any kind, would have meant the defeat of militarism and its perma- nent discomfiture. Indeed, to account for this offer at all we must suppose that- they were in luuc-h worse straits than we were aware of. GERMANY RENT IN TWO. Now. supposing we had <x>nsented to estab- lish negotiations for a general, peace on these terms, what would have happened r One of two things would have happened. Perhaps the world would have stumbled into .L peace. But I think another result was more probable. Assuming they are dominant, the pan-Germans and Jun- kers would have repudiated their Ministerial spok«-smen. They would have broken off the ne- gotiations. And with what result? If the jack- boot had triumphed, the lust of conquest, synj- cism and brutality of its fearers won Id have been exposed not to 11." who know it, but to the great mass of the German people, in unmis- takable -and unforgettable fashion. The peace offensive would not only have utterly failed, but with disastrous consequences. Germany would have been rent in two. Continuing, Lord Wimborne alluded to the speeches of Herr von Kiihlmann, and the speech of Count Czernin on July 11th as presenting just such another opportunity as Brest Litovsk. Three wwks had elapsed since the former was deliberated, and no responsible Foreign Minister had uttered a word in reply. The advantages of countering these efforts seemed so obvious that one was forced to inquire what ooje<rtion there was to the course suggested. It would be no answer to say that tho Ger- mans know onr peac- terms and that they ha.ve been definitely and authoritatively statixi. He doubted whether one German in a million knows our peace terms. Even if tho Germans did know them, repetition was the quintessence of propaganda. THE GERMAN INTERPRETATION. "But in 'amy case,whether our terms are known or not known, what I do assert is that every war-wearv German knows that on three separ- ate occasions at least peace negotiations have been proposed by the Kaiser or his Ministers on terms which to the Pan-German must seem ac- commodation to the verga of surrender, and that on every occasion they have been received with a strong and acid silence by the Allied Chan- celleries, and he thinks, therefore, that it fol- lows that the Allies wish for notliing short of the destruction of Germany, and that thore is nothing for him but to fight on. There is a1 type of simple and somewhat impatient patriot whose monotonous refrain consists in "Stop talking, and get on with the war." Yes, cer- tainly get on with the war, but get on, too, with the objects of the war. However much we can prove in the fit--Id-as we firmly trust we can—that militarism does not pay, we siuiU not get appreciably nearer to that blessed sense of security which is embodied in the idea of the League of Nations as long as it is possible for the German authorities to assert, and for the German people to believe, that we, the Allies, are animated by just the same material, com- mercial and Imperialistic designs as they them- selves profess. Beaten or unbeaten, Germany will remain unconverted and continue a perpe- tual menace to us and our children." THE REPLY. The Earl of Crawford, in reply, said that the .Foreign Office was averse to a discussion of this kind at the present juncture. The views ex- (Continued at foot of preceding eolnmn).