Pioneer

INDUSTRIAL NOTES AND NEWS. Amalgamations. n, I f urther Instancesot closer wurfung arrange- ments made between unions include a proposal  form a triple alliance of bakers between the akers' Unions of England, Scotland, and Ire- ?Rd. There is already in existence a system of 1 transfer between the English and Scottish Unions. The Railway Clerks' Association is again going to discuss at its conference the question of amalgamation with the N.U.R. But the In- strument Makers have decided against amalga- mation with the A.S.E. Wages and Hours. The women of \Ve*t Bromwich have during the past week won a notable victory in inducing the Ministry of Labour to refer to arbitration the claim for a os. advance for the whole of the women of the country, excluding those employed in the engineering, foundry, or boiler trades. The men employed by the Southampton Steam- hoa t1 Company are still on strike, the company having offered a week of 62 hours instead of 72, with the same wage as at present, namely, t3 10s. per week, while the men demand a 06- hour week with £ 4. per week pay. The company, in their defence, state that, though the hours are long, the work is not arduous to which the men reply that the hours are scandalous, and demand that their conditions shall be at least as good as those of the dockers, who enjoy a 47- hour week. The movement against overtime and piecework continues to spread. Railwaymen all over the country are demanding the abolition of sys- tematic overtime," which is making the eight- hour day a farce, and keeping up unemployment, and various shop stewards' committees in tiit puginpering industry are circulating to union branches a resolution demanding the prohibition of overtime so long as unemployment continues. Four of the largest unions in the woodworking trade are balloting their members engaged in shipyards and engineering slwps on the question oi a general withdrawal of labour to enforce plain time systems of payment. More Industrial Conscription. A particularly glaring ease oi militarism 111 school s has been discovered recently in an agree- ment which is to be signed I)N, tll men upon thc-j taff of a certain London school. This agree- ment provides that a teacher must become an officer in a Cadet Corps, even if it is not attached to the school itself. and, further. he must show diligence in carrying out his duties in that capa- city. Apart from the fact that- it is quite un- reasonable to expect the teacher to add extra school duties to his hard work, in which he may or may not feel interested, the proposal to re- quire a man to become a member of a militarist or?anisatior. whatever his privat< opinion may Ills pi-ix-at4? opinion iiiiy

INDUSTRIAL LABOUR ABROAD. Canada. The Canadian industrial situation has de- veloped rapidly. In April the Government ap- pointed a Royal Commission OIl Industrial Rela- tions to examine into the causes of the unrest that was making itself felt in all parts. The Commission sat. first at Victoria, then at Van- couver, hut the Trades and Labour Councils both of Victoria and Vancouver refused to re- cognise it. and the individual Labour leaders who appeared before it gave evidence "of the most I "dieal k illd." La hour on the Pacific Coast, however, is notoriously extreme: and it is there- fore noteworthy that when the unrest came to a head in the beginning of May it began in On- tario. Strikes 011 a large scale took place in Toron Uk the second city of the Dominion, and demonstrations were held, calling for" Hands off, Russia." At the swine time strikes broke out in Ottawa (building trades), Hallifax (ship- building trades), and Winnipeg (building, trans- port. and food trades). During the last week the storm centre has been Winnipeg, where a general strike was proclaimed on May loth, and 80.0(10 workers came out. covering all the essen- tial services: the strike committee has been in virtual control of supplies, all papers except the "Western Labour News" have been stopped, and all communications have been cut off. There are signs of the position in Winnipeg weaken- 1_,?ns of the po I I ing, hut the ferment is general throughout the Dominion. The Labour unions in Calgary de- cided upon a sympathetic general strike in sup- port of the Winnipeg workers. Australia. The rise 111 food prices (50 per cent, above 191-1) has caused a wave of sectional movements covering: the miners, the railwaymen, and the covering Of these, the most important is the strike of the seamen at Sydney. The Vicboria Rafways Union has passed a resolution in fa- vour of the Soviet system. France. The development of professional organisation and solidarity with other labour continues to ex- tend. The bank clerks of Paris have entered the industrial field and gained a notable victory after a brief but decisive strike, the terms se- cured including recognition of their union, a 30 per cent. rise in salaries against the employers' offer of 10 per cent., and a 48-hour week. In connection with the organisation of the actors (who have now formed a federation of all the 24 unions of theatre employees and affiliated to the General Federation of La.hour), it is inter- esting to note that in the new arrangements for the Council to govern the Comedie Frangais one quarter representation is to be given to the actors. Eight-Hour Day Movement. Mexico has passed a stringent Eight-Hour^ law, with double rates for overtime. Denmark is to have a general eight-hours' day (with the exception of shipping, agriculture, and similar occupations) from January 1st, 1920, by an agreement reached between the Employers' As- sociation and the Federation of Trade Unions. The Italian Minister of Transport ha.s issued a decree fixing an eight-hour day for railwaymen.

Five per cent. Patriotism. LABOUR COUNCILLORS JIBE AT MERTHYR JINCOES. Un an appeal hy a deputation from the peace celebration committee. Merthyr Town Council on Tuesday agreed to make a grant of £ 1,000 for the provision of tea and entertainment to the school children of the borough on Peace Day. In the course of the discussion, Mr. John Williams remarked that when the Labourites advocated the payment out of the rates for a "jolly time for the kiddies" on Peace Day some of our friends on the other side" said that there were plenty of patriotic and enthu- siastic people in the town who would provide the necessary money." But to-day," he went on, we hear collections have been a failure. There is no 5 per cent. or redemption of capital behind it, and we can't raise sufficient to give a cup of tea to the children. When we advocated it on the last occasion, though it was not then given the legal sanction of the Local Government Board, we could, have done it by raising the Mayor's salary."

I Housing in Merthyr. I COMMISSION VALUERS REDUCE LAND OFFERED BY HALF. MRS. DAVIES ON LABOUR AND VENEREAL DISEASE. There was an interesting meeting of the Mer- thyr Trades Council and Labour Party last Thursday, presided over by Mr. J. Adkins. PROTESTS. The Council's protest against the continuance of. the blockade was acknowledged by the Prime Minister in the usual printed form. Arising out of this Mr. Bert Brobyn thought that the Coun- cil ought to protest against the prosecution of the women who had published a leaflet on the re- sults of the blockade on the child life of Ger- many. it was a scandal that these women should have been heavily fined for publishing facts, the truth of which had never been dis- puted. This was agreed upon. ISERVICE MEN'S REPRESENTATION. I Mr. T. E. Jones (N.U.R.) speaking with re- ference to the appointment of the eight Trades and Labour Council's representatives on the War Pensions' Committee, stated that five seats had now been allocated to the Discharged Sailors' and Soldiers' Organisations, and three of the women's seats to the wives or widows of ex- service men. Mr. Bert Brohyn expressed the opinion that the War Pensions Committee had more than justified its existence; and had worthily upheld the traditions of Labour in the town. The eight Trades Council representatives ap- pointed were: Wm. Jones (Dowlais), W. -J. Da vies (Penydarren), Harry Nobes (Park), E. Jones (Town). — Tovey (Plymouth), John Devanald (Merthyr Vale), and Isaac Jones (Treharris). MORGAN JONES' PETITION. I The Council agreed to associate itself with the Gefligaer Trades Council in petitioning for the release of Councillor Morgan Jones, of Bargocd, and his entire removal from military service, though t here was some criticism of the orthodox wording, "praying" the authorities to take ac- ¡ tion, and ^pressing the opinion that "demand" would be,preferable. VENEREAL DISEASE. I Mrs. Davies, on behall of the .National Council for Combatting Venereal Disease local commit- tee, attended the meeting and spoke of the socia l side of the venereal scourge. First of all she called attention to the great monetary loss to the country in wages and in the cost of up- keep of asylums, homes, etc., for the treatment of the disease and its victims. She herself was not so much concerned with the cure of this dis- ease as with its prevention. The greatest block to the successful fighting of the disease was the appalling ignorance obtaining on this question, and she appealed to all trades unionists to en- lighten themselves on this terrible thing, and spread the knowledge, particularly among their children. Amongst the contributory causes to the spread of this disease she mentioned bad housing, as spreading a. knowledge of the facts of life among children by unhealthy means. The wages question also had a direct bearing on the question of the fighting of venereal disease since girls paid insufficient to give them a proper standard of life were tempted to sell their virtue in return for the good times that youth should have. In this matter the men who had won a minimum wage for themselves through their trade union organisations, could render very materia l assistance by using those organi- sations 'to secure a proper minimum for the women workers. EDUCATION AND RECREATION. I She strongly advocated that in the coming re- construction of education the Trades Councils should see to it that a certain portion of the time in the continuation schools should be devoted to the teaching of sex hygiene and the real facts of life. They should further see to it that means of recreation should be provided so that healthy I means should be provided for the absorption of the large funds of energy released by nature (hiring the period of adolescence. Included in these should be ample tennis courts during the summer, and mixed clubs where th" young peo- ple could meet in healthy enjoyment during the winter months. THE GUARDIAN REPRESENTATION. I Mr. Jack Adkins (Chairman) presented the Guardians report. He mentioned that the Labour representation was now 28 of the 5-1 but his experience' was that the Labour majority in practice was greater than the two members silown on figures, forSOlllP of the "otiier side" had apparently been frightened, and they were not paying that attention that they had formerly done to the work of the Board. HOUSINC MATTERS. Councillor J. Williams, in presenting the Council report, stated with respect to the Housing Scheme that the Council had had the services of some of the valuers of the Welsh Commission in connection with land offered to the Council for building purposes at about t450 per acre; and, as a result, this land had been valued at between C160 and £ 250 an acre. That w as good. In addition the Corporation had been offered the Guernos Farm, containing something like 480 acres between Cyfarthfa Park and the Taf Fechan river, and embracing some valuable property at a very reasonable figure. It was a fact, said Mr. Williams, that the "other people" took very little interest in the Housing question, and if anything effective was to be done in Mer- thyr it would have to be done by the Labour Party representatives. In connection with educational matters during the month, Councillor John Williams expressed the opinion that the Merthyr teachers had se- cured the best scheme of salaries in the whole country. LABOUR REPRESENTATIVES CONFER- I ENCE. It was decided to send eight representatives (four from the Council members and four from the Guardians' representatives—to be selected by the groups themselves) to the annual confer- ence of Labour Representatives on local Gov- ernment bodies in South Wales, which is to be held on Whit Tuesday at Cardiff. In addition, several trades unions pay the expenses of their members on public bodies. I

The newly-formed Madras Labour Union is sending a representative to England with the object of studying Labour conditions. The aim of the Union is to obtain data (says Reuter) with a view to the modification of Indian fac- tory legislation, particularly in the direction of the shortening of hours of labour in India. The Union wants also to obtain information about labour organisations in this country, with a view to bringing Indian Labour into line and into closer touoh with British Labour.

 I I401* LLOYDS BANK gffl LIMITED, with which is amalgamated ) THE CAPITAL & COUNTIES BANK, LD. HEAD OFFICE: 71, LOMBARD STREET, E.C. 3. COLONIAL & FOREIGN DEPARTMENTS: 17. CORNHILL, E.C. 3, and at BIRMINGHAM, BRADFO 'O, liYERPDO., MANCHESTER, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE. Foreign Bills pnd Cheques are collected, and approved Bills purchased. Letters of Credit and Circular Notes are issued, and Foreign Currency Drafts, Telegraphic Transfers, and Letter Payments, available in all parts of the world, can be obtained from the principal Branches. The Agency of Colonial and Foreign Banks is undertaken.

Marx or Churchill. I BOB WILLIAMS ON THE POSITION TO-DAY. DIRECT ACTION TO DESTROY CONSCRIP- 1 TION, THE BLOCKADE AND MILITARY INTERVENTION. The Merthyr I.L.P. opened its summer propa- ganda on Thoniastown Park on Sunday last, when Mr. Robert Williams, of the Transport W orkers Federation, spoke in the afternoon and Mr. Sheppard, of Wolverhampton, occupied the same stand in the evening. The attendance was larger than was expected on an opening day, and the collection at the afternoon meeting com- pared very favourably with the Rink takings during the winter session. Mr. John Barr, as branch chairman, occupied the chair in the afternoon. Mr. R. Williams declared his intention of speaking upon the peace terms and the blockade, I and not to confine himself to a, discussion of Socialism in general. Somebody had once said that a Socialist was a trades unionist with brains, but he was not there to state the case for Socialism except by implication, but" T would say, as Robert Smillie and Frank Hodges [ are demonstrating in the Throne Room of the House of Lords, that the lords and their retinues are always very rich because you are very poor; and you are poor because they have stolen from you the surplus of your labour-power." (Cheers.) He was there primarily to talk about the peace that was no peace; a peace which, if al- lowed to remain unchallenged, would give us a crop of wars for the children who came after us more disastrous in tlieii- effects than had been the 4,1, years of war through which we had just passed. They would remember that they had been told at the beginning of the war that it was a. war for liberation, for freedom for small na- tionalities and the right of self-determination, and whilst they were keeping their minds and attention upon the provision of means to prose- cute the war the Imperialists, the Militarists and the great diplomatists and reactionaries of every camp were using the good-will of the peo- ples for these desirable things in order to work their vile purposes. And right well bad they succeeded. And now we saw the marks of the beast upon those responsible for the Versailles peace. (Cheers.) English, French, Italian and the La- bour and Socialist parties everywhere were join- ing together in the demand for a clean, just and permanent peace. (Cheers.) And we were re- ceiving help from unexpected sources. For in- stance, Mr. J. L. Garvin, editor of the Ob- server," a high priest of Imperialism, had that day condemned the peace terms and written the revision of the treaty will bo one of the chief objectives not only of the Socialist move- ment, but of all democratic organisations throughout the world." The Treaty wiH mean, sooner or later, revision or war." THE RICHTS OF IT. I In the tight for revision our Jingoes would repeat that we were only doing to Germany what Germany would have done to us if she had been successful. That might be so. But if we believed in peace, more especially if we believed in religion, to excuse wrong because another was suspect of wrong intent given the opportunity, would not do. Our aim must be to refrain from doing wrong and to establish a condition of affairs which would prevent the enemy and our- selves from wanting to do wrong to each other. (Cheers.) I raise my voice against a peace which is no peace a peace which is economically unsound, politieally fatuous and morally criminal. (Cheers.) I raise my voice because I reali se that I have a golden-haired boy six years old who may have to prepare himself for the blood bath of 20 or 30 years hence. If those old men who made the war are allowed to make the peace they will take youth with all its hero- ism, all its capacity for suffering, all its magni- ficent courage and recklessness, and by their cunning will wreck youth on the loom as they had always done in the past. (Cheers.) It is incumbent upon youth to raise its voice against a peace and against a diplomacy which is bound inevitably to lead Europe into another war, or succession of wars, more disastrous than the one through which we have just passed." oil(, tli]'Olll-li ii-111(.Il Al (, Jllst pa asecl Social Democrats in Germany time-serving—like many of our own labour members—who ra'sed not their voices against the iniquitous peace terms of Brest Litovsk forced upon a- disarmed Russia, but they had had meted out to them a just retribution. And his fervent hope was that just as the HohenzoJlern and his time-serving politicians had gone from Germany, so Clemen- ceaii; Orlando, Wilson and Lloyd George would go for the Allied side. (Cheers.) "And if any efforts of mine can bring a.bout their complete destruction you can rely upon me." (Cheers.. He knew these men, Liberals many of them, trading upon their past work and sayings, to-day conveniently forgotten. It wa-s said that the wages of sin are death," and he was positive that if these men did not meet physical death, political death would be meted out to those who had been apostates to what had made them what they were. (Cheers.) MARX OR CH URCHILL. +1", I I ,1 r i T- £ We were in the uiroe-s or a Strugs 11/1 I domination of the ideas of Karl Marx on the one hand or Winston Ohurehill on the other. He was not a sporting man, bitt if lie were he would not stop at putting his shirt on" Karl Marx, he would put every garment he possessed on Karl Marx against Winston Churchill. (Cheers.) The capitalists were struggling all they could to submerge the ideas of Marx to hold back the idea that a man should be valued not for what he was or what he had, but for what he did. That was the essence of the creed of the Soviets, that men should not- be valued for the lineage that they could call attention to nor for the goods they had, but for the services they were able to render to the community. (Cheers.) What the Russian Soviet Government said was that the man who did the important and essen- tial work of society in the mines, on the land, or in the factories should be the people to direct the political affairs of the country. (Cheers.) In the last analysis that was right, and he be- lieved in it. (Cheers.) COMING. But the trench, British and American bond- holders had listened to the Russian emigres who were very anxious to get back their places and power in Russia, and we were supplying the sinews and materials to carry on a war with people with whom not only had the Allied workers no quarrel, but with whom, did they but know the facts, they would be in absolute agree- ment. (Cheers.) But lie was disposed to state that if that war continued sufficiently long it would bring about the same mental and economic collapse in England as had been brought about first of all in Russia, and that to-day was being brought about in the Central Empires. He had been in Amsterdam a month before, and the Ger- man trades unionists had then told him that the peace terms which were then imminent and evi- dent though not published, would mean either the re-establishment of Kaiserism or complete Communism (or Bolshevism) in Germany. Ho was sometimes cold-blooded enough to hope that things would become worse before they became better. Every discriminating and discerning man must realise that the very forces which made for the break-up of Capitalism in Russia and in Hungary, and which were at work more rapidly than most people knew in France and Italy would make for the destruction of landlord- ism a.nd Capitalism in Great Britain as well. TPraise God! Spec-d on the good work. But, at the same time if this thing was to take place at the price of the living death of millions of ten- der children in Germany he would say, feed the children though it kept back the revolution for 50 years. (Cheers.) Every drop wf warm, generous blood in his heart cried out that if we could not have human progress without all that suffering, then let us dispense with the suffering and take our chances of the human progress and development. (Cheers.) He was one of those who was prepared to take direct action to rid ourselves Of UOU^rtption—(cheers)—to raise the hlockade--(cheers)-and To £ k^tr°y military in- tervention in Russia- He took this attiniuv b!la cause in his considered judgment there was UQ- likelihood of the trade union leaders doing any more than the rank and file forced them to do. If action was wanted in these matters it must come spontaneously from the rank and file who saw these matters more clearly than those oc- cupying high places in the Labour Movement of this country. (Cheers.) Mr. A P. Yates chaired for Mr. Sheppard at the evening meeting.

The Municipal Strike." SERIOUS DECLINE IN REAL WACES. The sensation of the week in Merthyr is the strike of the Town Hall staff. We are so accus- tomed to look upon our Municipal Authorities— custodians of our reputation as communal em- ployers—as over generous generous in the use of public money, that it is with the utmost re- luctance we are compelled to admit, as an in- disputable fact, that so far from leading the way as model employers they have allowed the real wages of their staff to decline at such a rate that a strike has had to be resorted to. A statement of this nature, taken in conjunction with the fact a nominal increase of 23s. per week over prer-war figures has already been granted may seem a very ridiculous one, and necessitates an explanation. The value of wages lies in their purchasing power, and to view the matter from the stand- point of pounds, shillings and pence is super- ficial. The quality not the quantity, i.e., the real value not the nominal ifgure, has to be con- sidered in this present time of depreciated cur- rency. THE FIGURES. In considering, then, the increase or decrease of wag#s. the question must be viewed from t.he cost of subsistence point, and if the nominal wage to-day does not command the pre-war standard of comfort, then the real wage has de- clined. That the increase over pre-war rate given in the Town Hall is not commensurate with the changed conditions is easily proved by a reference to the Economist index number of commodity prices. This index number is cal- culated monthly from the average wholesale quotations of 44 leading commodities. and has been worked out month after month without a break since 1862. The commodities taken cover five different departments apd embrace cereals and meat. Other food products (tea, iugar, etc.), textiles, minerals, miscellaneous (rubber, timber, oils, etc.), and taking as a basis the average of 1901 to 1905 as 100, we find July, 1914. regis- tered 11(;.6, and April, 1919, 262.4. Analyse these tigures in price terms and you find if 116 is taken a-s £ 1 that last month's figure (262.4) means £ 2 Gs. 2d., so that unless the Town Hall wage list has been nominally increased by t2Ö per cent. over the pre-war rate, then it is in- disputably a fact that the real value of He wages has been reduced. Personally, I am inclined to think that the c, Economist" Index figure under-estimates the increase in retail prices which affect the workers, and that it would be nearer the mark NA-,orkers, it at 150 to 175 per cent. However, we have no reliable retail index, and I respectfady commend our civic fathers' attention to reliable data with a view to the removal of, what can rightly be termed a stigma on the reputation of the Merthvr public as employers. JOHN BARR.