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The Pope's Blessing. <
The Pope's Blessing. < His Holiness the Pope has addressed a letter to Miss Eglantyne J ebb, hon. secretary of the Save the Children Fund (7, St. James' Terrace, t Regent'?. Park,. N.W.8), in which he recalls that this Society was founded by the Fight the Fa- mine Council, and the unselfish efforts of Lord Ij Parmoor, and points out that of all the sufferers of the war the chiJdren have suffered the most- After referring to the fact that an institution fo" 1 children suffering from tuberculosis and rachitis is to be opened at Rome, the letter pi-ooeetls:- His Holiness accords wholehearted approval to the generous and timely undertaking of I which he has been informed, and expresses the j most urgent hope that it will meet with universal support. With deep tenderness lie would recall [ for this occasion the sublime words of the Saviour, whose love for little children was >0 i great: Whoso shall receive one such little child in My Xame receiveth Me. (Matt. 28, o)- The Holy Father expects the most. iii outcome from the activities which are thus di- rected, especially if all the Societies which have in view the same generous object unite in c<v ordinating their efforts in older to obtain the most effective results, and this not merely for the advantage, of the unfortunate children but for the welfare of all those who have been in- volved in the terrible struggle. Indeed it has given great satisfaction to the Holy Father to observe in this undertaking indications of far- reaching significance, especially in the substi- tution of Christian Charity for that unhappy hatred which constitutes one of the most danger- ous results of the appalling conflict. As regards the realisation of the project, the Holy Father consider); that in order from the outset to impress a movement which is clearly 11 of so urgent a nature with more practical char- acter, the existing administrative organisation of the Church could be .successfully utilised for the desired end, especially as for this purpose a full knowledge of local conditions is naturally requisite. 1 The August Pontiff offers up the most fervent prayers to Our Lord, that by His Almighty help these generous efforts may yield abundant fruit, and, that all those who co-operate in such a noble cause may be richly blessed by His Heaven- ly Grace. Accept, Madam, the expression of devoted sentiments in our Lord." f (Signed), f CARDINAL-SECRETARY GASPARRI. I
Advertising
j Merthyr Electric Theatre j I Mert!mm!!Obeeatre I I CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE FROM 2.30 P.M. DAILY. 2 Friday & Saturday this Week—SUSSUE HUYAKAWA in I AITHE TEMPLE OF DUSK IThis picture is showing to capacity houses, and it has been necessary to open at 2 o'clock I instead of 2-30. Patrons are strongly advised to pay a visit in the afternoon if possible. I Monday Tuesday and WedneadeLy- I I The Dramatic Film Company presents MONTAGUE LOVE and S I DOROTHY KELLY in  I "THE ilm ¡:T¡;E ,:nd i j • Jacques (Montague Love) the lazy lout, the country clod, misunderstood, not Wanted but • I Jacques the genius, with talent and power, latent if not patent-not wanted. I I So the Story opens, I I Ella Wheeler WHeox's Poem-" ANGEL OR DEMON." I • Thursday, Friday, and Saturday- S 1 The Fox Film Company present 8 VIRGINIA PEARSON in "THE LIAR." ? Since ever the world was, and men walked—some in white s k ins, some in black-th problem J 2 # "The Liar" presents has been with us. 2 I ROSCOE ARBUCKLE, known to all picture goers as Fatty, in an excellent B ? ? comedy, entitled—" LOVE!" Yes and be knows something of the subject. B ) Prices of Admission 5d., 9d., ?/3 including Tax. t It .1 .Î It It It It PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT. NO-CONSCRIPTION FELLOWSHIP. National Convention Will be held in London on November 29th and 30th. Chairman CLIFFORD ALLEN. First List of Speakers at different Sessions Rev. Dr. John Clifford G. D. H. Cole George Lansbury J. Ramsay Macdonald Rev. Dr. F. B, Meyer Lord Parmoor Hon. Bertrand Russell Robert Smillie Philip Snowden Mrs. H. M. Swanwick All Conscientious objectors are invited to attend, and are requested to communicate either with their local Branches or with Ernest E. Hunter, at Head Office, 5 York Buildings, Adelphi, London, W.C,2. It II I.' II I' n I a M Are unrivaHed for an Irregularities, etc., they BLANCHARDS speedily afford relief and never fail to alleviate all suffering. They supersede Pennyroyal, Pill PI LLS Cochia, Bitter, Apple, &c. Blanchard's are the best of all Pills for Women. Sold In boxes, 111, by BOOTS' Branches and all Chemists, or post free, same price, from: LESLIE MARTIN, Ltd., Chemists, 34 Dalston Lane, London. Samples and valuable booklet sent free, Id. stamp. HOPE CHAPEL, MERTHYR, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5th, 1919. 1 Rev. J. Morgan Jones, M.A. DOWLAIS DISTRICT OF MINERS. The Industrial Class WILL BE HELD ON MONDAY EVENINGS, at 6 p.m., at THE CARNECIE HALL, DOWLAIS. Lecturer, Mr. S. 0. DAVIES. A Hearty Invitation is extended to all desirous to attend. ARE WE DOING YOUR PRINTING ? We have the most modern equipment, and good work is quickly turned out by Trade Unionists it reasonable rates. NOTE THE ADDRESS THE LABOUR PIONEER PRESS ITOUR SHOP PONTMORLAIS, MERTHYR TYDFIL. A big stock of Ablett's "Easy Outlines of Economics," 1/3 per copy. I.L.P. Branches, O.L.C. Classes and Trade Union Lodges sup- plied, 12/- per doz., post-free. PROPAGANDA, NOT PROFIT," is the motto of the Pioneer. Press." If you are alive to the tremendous social improve- ments that the Party the Pioneer" represents stands for, then it is your duty to all that all your Trades Union, Co-operative, and General Printing comes to Williams' Square, Merthyr, the Home of the Pioneer.
Electric Theatre.
Electric Theatre. With Sessne Hayakawa starring in the big; picture, The Temple of Dusk," in the Electric Theatre's current programme it is difficult to find accommodation at the popular little house, but this film of the year is worth undergoing a great deal -of discomfort to see. Take care of little Blossom is the trust around which one of the most touching and beautiful films that has ever been seen revolves. I have been hardened to much that effects the occasional picture patron, but there was a hard lump in my throat and a suspicious moisture in my eye more than once during the unreeling of this wonderful, vivid production. For next week there are two programmes that would do credit to a big renting Corporation's trade show—you know, one of those affairs to which exhibitors and pressmen are invited on gilt-edged cards. These are gilt-edged pro- grammes. From Monday the big feature is that unusual story that the Dramatic Film Company have sent out just now, "The Awakening." It is the story of a clod-hopper who is a genius, and from the moment the title goes out and the story opens on Not Wanted to the awaken- ing Montague Love has packed the play tense with the great acting of a great part. In this story, too, Dorothy Kelly carries a big part, and the result is as happy and refreshingly fresh a top-liner as we ever programmed. In the same programme another of the Ella Wheeler Wilcox powerful human poems is featured in Angel or Demon," a wonderful little drama of frankness that is as sweet on the screen as it is in the rip- pling verse of the lyrical successor of Alfred Tennyson. With Virginia Pearson starring in the Fox super-play" The Liar," the programme from Thursday on is already assured of popular ap- proval. Few of modern day artistes can touch the high level of art that Miss Pearson occupies as a right, and here in a tense story, as old as the race, but as new as the youngest human she is caste in a part that gives her the fullest op- portunity to run the'scale of her greatness. Then there is.. Fatty Arbuckle, who is certainly beyond Chaplin now as a favourite with a great and growing section of comedy lovers. This time Fatty is in "Tiove" —a not altogether unique failing of his, and one in which his previous ex- periences with the fickle goddess has stood him in good stead to judge from the humours he extracts from his misfortune. PLAYGOER.
IThe Railway Strike.
I The Railway Strike. BY an action of the ino- BY an action of the most fatuous folly that has ever been displayed by the central executive of a national Government, the Cabinet has forced on the country a strike the consequences of which if protracted over but a few more days point unmistakably towards a social revolution in the State. Whether the good sense of the trade union masses can suffice to keep the bitter war to the economic field, or whether the short- sighted bourgeoisie, incited by lying communi- ques of its Cabinet representatives, spell out the last stages in the misery and anguish of physical forces, the end is the same. By its own determination, for purposes fchat are dark and devious the Georgian executiveha.s pro- claimed from Downing Street the social nature of the strife; and against all the incitement of ministers and their captive press, the splendid statesmanship, the sense of responsibility and the readiness to explore any and every channel that led towards settlement, that has so finely marked Mr. J. H. Thomas and the executive of the N. U R. in the proceedings, has proved impossible to cope. For three days the rail- waymen strove to restrict the issue to one of pure wage defence; and to that end they diverted the eager assistance that was proferred by the Unions who saw, and correctly saw in this fight, the beginning of a wau that is in- tended to negative and render useless the whole energy and genius of the working class as a class since 1880, when trades unionism sloughed off the blanket of laissez-faire and began to think in terms of mutual dependence, and working- class solidarity. That action on the part of a union called upon to face the whole force of the State authority, and of the whole social system of defence and domination that the Capitalist controllers of that State authority have builded up in the days of their power, was in itself the hnest tribute to the sense of justice that ani- mated the strike leaders, as it animates the strikers. It was as .though the X.U.R. heads at Unity House said to the whole trade union world: "Don't take sides. Hold the ring clear. Give us all a fair hearing, and trust to the sound sense of justice of the British people." It was a magnificent thing to do, but of course utterly impossible, as in all probability no one realised more clearly than the railwaymen's leaders. It was impossible because it was never intended that the public should have an unim- peded view of the whole case. The present Gov- ernment has never believed in letting the people know. It refused passports when the people desired to know things about the war and about Russia, it preserved a rigid censorship over the peace conference news. The leopard does not change its spots. Its old policy of lying and still further lying, of vilification and passion for distributing half-truths and innuendoes is its new policy to-day. Its shorthand notes of. the Downing Street conferences of Thursday and Friday last are useless except in-so-far as they indicate the almost servile lengths to which Mr. Thomas and his fellows were prepared to go in search of a settlement that would not vitiate their just claim to the extension of the same principle that had already been conceded to the A.S.L E. and F. men. Its bulletins since the strike have commenced have lied and lied de- liberately. The situation has not improved. It has grown from bad to worse. The railwaymen are not in doubt and are dribbling back to work less than in any other strike in the history of a big union. Volunteers are undoubtedly forth* coming, but the inference that they are coming from the ranks of the w orkers is an infamous lie. They are the bourgeoisie that are rallying, to the side of their class, as was inevitable when, class-war was declared'by the bourgeoisie State. And the Government is to blame. The Govern- ment it was that declared it a versus-the-com- munity strike—meaning, of course, the bour- geoisie community—and as a reward to the das- tardly declaration of hostilities, they are likely to find that there is a communal sense that has rightly assessed the situation, and that they are compelled to face not the railwaymen alone, but the whole of the trades union organised world conscious that the fight is only incidentally a fight against railwaymen, but is actually a struggle against the whole of trades unionism. We are not discussing so far the desirability or j undesirability of the state of things that is arising. We have kept to the facts as they stand out in unmistakable clearness, and pointed to their obvious consummation failing an imme- diate settlement, and the resignation of the Gov- ernment that has become imperatively necessary if Parliament is to retain any power in the mind and action of Democracy at all. The fight is not of our making. We hate and detest the chaotic anarchism that is being forced upon us by irre- sponsibly who seek power in the ignorance and prejudice of the masses. They have gathered the fuel, they have applied the taper, and now they are engaged in fanning the tiny blaze into a conflagration. The foreign' exchanges have realised the significance of things with quicker apprehension than the folks here at home, and the almost immediate adverse effect upon the English credit in those exchanges points to a reading of events consonant with what we have said above. From one position it is impossible for the railwaymen to recede without endanger- ing the whole structure of working-class organi- sation. The demand for the recognition of the principle of standardisation on the lines already conceded to the N.U.R. allies in this fight-the enginemen and ifremen-lias got to be won for the whole working-class. That sacrifice we dare not make—any other is justifiable to preserve the peaceful evolution to a better state of Society. Time serving politicians who see in that concession the end of their reign; an end made inevitable by their own folly in forcing the issue onto its present ground, are not likely to give way short of the employment of every devilish tactic that Capitalism has armed them with. The fight will be stern; the issue is fraught with all sorts of conceivable and incon- ceivable (la'ngers to the whole structure of society. Our task is to realise the significance of it all to the working class as a whole, and to so comport ourselves that the era of social eman- cipation and justice to-day in its birth-pangs shall never need to hang its head in shame at our doings. We are men with a heritage at stake—the heritage of humanity handed down through the ages, the heritage is too precious to be besmirched by any at of folly. Quit ye like men," men, that is, with a sense of dignity and responsibili ty to the present and the future.
THE BLACK-COATED PROLETARIAT.…
THE BLACK-COATED PROLETARIAT. I French teachers, hitherto organised in friend- ly societies, decided at their Congress in Paris last week to transform their organisations into Trade Unions. By 170 votes to 43, with 34 ab- stentions, the Congress also, decided to affiliate to the General Fede&rtion of Labour.
Do The Railways Pay.
Do The Railways Pay. STATISTICAL ANSWER TO LLOYD CEORCE'S NECATIVE. "GOVERNMENT HAS MADE A CICANTIC PROFIT OUT OF THE SYSTEMS." WHO IS THE LIAR? Everyone has read the statements of the Premier respecting the impossibility of paying proper wages to railway employees because of the serious deficit on the railway workings due to the extra costs of material and labour. It is the supreme argument of the Government in the present crisis. Not everyone, however, possesses any information as to the balance sheet of the railways. Here they are. The contradiction is so obvious, that it is not too strong to declare that there is a liar somewhere. Who it is you may determine for yourselves on the facts. READ THIS- When the union deputation again met mem- bers of the Cabinet on Friday morning, Mr. Lloyd George at once re-emphasised the gravity of the crisis, and the variety of great interests in ministerial charge. Mr. Thomas: One moment. Do I now un- derstand that you now make the statement tha.t there is a deficit on the railways through the improved conditions of the men ? Prime Minister: An enormous deficit. Mr. Thomas (to Sir Eric Geddes) Do you confirm that statement ? Sir Eric Geddes: Put your question again. Mr. Thomas repeated his question, and said: Before we go another yard I want to know whether Sir Eric Geddes confirms that statement of fact. Sir E l ie: The answer is that when you bring in the war-wage to-day it is not clear. If you will let me work out the figures I will answer the point as you go along. Mr. J. H. Thorn as: It is of vital import- ance. Prime Minister: We shall give the figures if it should be necessary. Have you the figures yet, Sir Eric ? Sir Eric Geddes: Xo. I will give them later on. Extract from Official X ote üf Friday's meet- ing between Premier and Ministers and X. U .R. Executive with Mr. J. H. Thomas at 10 Down- ing-street. The figures promised by Sir Eric Geddes were given in no paper that reached us on Monday or since. A singular, omission in view of the importance which Downing Street placed on this specious argument. NOW READ TH IS- I The Government has made a gigantic profit I out of the railway systems. "rirst let me take the Government's own va]nation of the railway receipts and expenses of 1918, and compare them with those of 1913 (I give round figures to the nearest million to simplify the matter): RAILWAY RECEIPTS AXD EXPENSES, 1913 and 1918 I (Millions of Pounds). A B C D E I Working t Receipts Receipts Total Net Year Expnces in Cash in Kind Receipts Profits 1913.. 75 miil. lig iiiill. 119 miJI. 44 min. 1918. 131 mill, 136 niiii. 42-mill. ¡ 178 mill. 47 mill. PROFITS IN 1918. "That is to say, the Government admits that in 1918 it made greater profits than the com- panies made in 1913, and that it had millions over for the Exchequer after paying the guar- anteed pre-war profits to the railway companies. But these official figures are by no means a complete statement of the commercial wide of the case." It is then pointed out that the enormous amount of important traffic done by railway companies for the nation without charge in re- spect of steamboats, and which are charged in Column" C" being based on pre-war charges. Such a valuation it is pointed out is commer- cially unsound, and the same additions, from 50 to 200 per cent., that the Government has had to pay for everything ehe slwnfTcI be tydded to this figure to make it complete. The figures are doubly involved since whilst refusing to commercially assess this figure, and arrive at a true commercial valuation, the Government has not hesitated to boast of the extra price it has to pay for wages and materials. The Government cannot have it both ways. If the extra cost of materials and the extra cost of labour are to be put down .as working ex- penses, as, indeed, they are, then, on the other side, the valuation of Government traffic must be also a commercial valuation." The table corrected npt to the full, but. by the addition of 50 per cent—the rise in fares— to Column C" gives a new table:— TABLE B. REAL RAILWAY PROFITS IN 1918. Millions Actual Cash Receipts. of £ Government Traffic at Pre-War Values 136 (a) Railway £ 42.000,000 (b) Steamboats, Docks, &c. £ 15,000,000 (c) Add 50 per ceut. t26,0001,000 85 Total Receipts 221 Paid out by Government:— Working Expenses f,1311000,000 Guaranteed Profits to Railways £45,000,000 -4 176 Profits remaining to Government 45 TInts last year, after meeting every expense and after paying the guaranteed pre-war rate of dividend to the shareholders, the Government deared £ 45,000,000 out of the railways. In 1917 the results were much the same." And so to the present:— "It appears, therefore, that the accounts of the present financial year are not likely to show a loss, because if the receipts in cost and kind make no increase they will be £ 221,000,000, for the Government's own estimates of outgoings is R175,000,000, leaving a balance of £ 46,000,000, or more than enough to pay the shareholders their pre-war profits. And this without the great economies Sir Eric Geddes himself declared possible under uni- j fieation." (Sir Leo Chiozza Money on "Railway Profits" in ".The Daily News.") NOW THIS- I "The State is now running the railways at a loss, due in the main to the enormous increase made in the wages of the railway workers since the heginning of the war, and also to the great reduction in the hours of labour. This loss is now being borne by the general taxpayer, and will soon have to be passed on to the general public in the form of increased fares and charges." (Prime Minister's "Anarchist" Telegram to Mayor of Carnarvon.)
I The Right to Strike
I The Right to Strike I A BUSINESS MAN'S VIEW. I I BY JOHN BARR. ] The right of the working class movement to use the only weapon it possesses as a last resor5 is being very severely criticised this week, and the tremendous upheaval caused by the railway men's strike is in some quarters cited as an ar- gument against the men in the fight they are putting up for a reasonable standard of sub- sistence in return for their services The columns of the conventional Press, itS usual, are being freely used to give voice to this feeling in the hope that the community generally will not only withhold their sympathies but raise a cry of denunciation against the men as the cause of the general dislocation. Brieflyi the attention of the public is to be side-switched from the question of the principles involved, and the justification in the interests of the men for the strike to the point of view that the dis- astrous coo sequences involved necessitates the return of the men to work, win or lose. -Noiv, in this old homeland of ours we very naturally pride ourselves on the possession of a sen-se of fairness—our sporting instincts are so well de- veloped that, to us, the first law of righ?t-ems' ness is to play the game and the first questioC )( for the consideration of the ordinary man in the •: street is: Is this fair? Is it playing the game?? I THE ANTAGONISMS IN SOCIETY. 11 It is no argument against the action of the railwaymen to say that their strike upsets the 1 mechanism of production and distribution. rather does its use betray an ignorance of the economic conditions under which we live. We are all interdependent one upon the other and the common knowledge that the action of one section of the community in an attempt to ob- tain a reasonable standard of subsistence can throw the whole social machinery out of gear is surely proof that we are living in a condition of society which is based not on harmony but antagonism. In a world where all the necessaries of life could be easily obtained by co-operative ownership, in fact in a complex system of pro- duction and distribution where if comfort and culture is to be birthright of all, co-operation is; required, we find private ownership as the an- jj tagonistic base. The antagonism arises from then natural assumption that one has a right to do ii as one likes with one's own property and na- turally the men owning only the power to labour are not to be excluded from this natural right as the press and some portion of the public would like us to insist on. In accordance with this right, the man who finds his business not paying closes it down and is considered a per- fectly sensible being, in fact would be thought a lunatic if lie did not. In the same wav the man with nothing to sell but his labour-power is perfectly justified in withholding it if lie con- siders he is not selling it at a reasonable profit to himself in the form of comfort and culture. and the being who reasons otherwise has a twist somewhere in his psychological get-up. r NECESSARY SEQUENCE. 41 Given private ownership as a base the com- I munity must be prepared to admit industrial J strife between the antagonistic elements as » ( necessary sequence, and the Government that contends in that strife should at least have the courage to take a referendum of the whole i people 011 the issue before it asks for the sup- port of the public. In the press criticism the question of railway1 profit^io.d loss has been generally dealt with, evidently with the idea of showing that the railways are not making a profit and therefore cannot pay the demands of the men. This is.8 peculiarly subtle method of reasoning and quite apart, from the question as to whether the rail- ways do or do not pay at present (a question upon which there seems to be a great diversity of opinion and no particular data available) in- troduces a matter entirely irrelevant to the issue. On our public roads we keep a staff at work varying from the surveyors to the scaven- gers, and the funny man in our midst who would object to a scavengers' rise of wages because the roads did not pay a profit would stand a biff chance of getting his mental condition enquired into, but with our free press (syndicaIlY owned) reason is flung to the winds in the tight against the force antagonistic to the ide:? of the capitalistic syndicate. Railways :He. as roads, public services, and should be managed and controlled in the same spirit, with the v;ew of contributing to every worker employed ? sensible standard of comfort as a first essential, and the public should &ee to it that services o? this nature should be freed from a profit has** and developed solely with an eye to the neces- I sities oi the country. j