Pioneer

Ex-Soldier Tramps. INCREASING NUMBER OF VAGRANTS. The quarterly meeting of the South Wales and Monmouthshire Vagrancy Com- mittee at Cardiff on Monday instructed its chairman (Mr. J. Prowle) to raise at the National Conference the question of pro- viding special treatment of discharged men seeking admission to workhouses and casual wards. It was stated that amongst the increasing number of tramps now passing through the hands of the Poor Law, many were ex-ser- vice men, and the opinion was expressed that everything possible should be done to secure employment for them.

The rates in aristocratic St. George's, Hanover Square, stand at 8/8 in the ?, and in St. George's-in-th?-East at 1313. The rates for West Ham stand at 15/7, and for Kensington at 8/10. In Merthyr Tydfil the rates stand at 17/5 in the £ t and in the Rhosdda Urban District at 16/10.

I A Contrast. I Whilst the Prime Minister was denounc- ing the Railwayinen's opposition to a re- duction in wages as a conspiracy of anarchists, the financiers of the City of London were quietly extorting an extra i per cent. interest on Treasury Bills. The Government is in need of money to pay off Exchequer bonds falling due, and the black-coated blackmailers secured an extra profit which, on £ 930,000,000 of Treasury I Bills outstanding, would amount to over ^7,000,000 a year. Last week the issue of Treasury Bills rose to ^111,805,000. So the bankers forthwith screwed out over a million extra for that week's work. Bankers withholding credit for a higher rate of in- terest are patriots, working-men with- holding labour against a reduction in wages are anarchists. During the last few weeks the printing presses have been busy turning out paper money to the fact value of £ 7,000,000. The more the merrier. Why work harder when the Government knows how to produce mil- lions from scraps of paper ?-The Common- weal.

Ex-Service Men's Union- and Why ? DEMOBILISED MEN ARE WORKERS THEY UFST ORGANISE AS SUCH. I TO THE EDITOR [One of the most important questions that the ex-Service man has to decide is that of the function of his ex-Service or- ganisations that have sprung up. The coming of the ex-Service Union to Merthyr has raised the question acutely in the town and has crystallised the need for a thorough discussion on the question. We trust that with the letter published below a discussion that will serve the purpose of illuminating the matter may ensue. As a Labour Party organ we candidly believe that the best in- terests of the ex-Service men will be served by active union with the Party, but we have no intention of either bribing or com. pelling the soldier to take sides. We be- lieve in self-determination in organisation as in national government, and self-deter- mination means that on the facts the ex- Serviceman shall choose freely his course and follow it. The need is for the facts, and we trust the facts from all sides will be forth con ling. —ED ] Sir,—Now that the National Union of Ex-Service Men has definitely started its campaign in MerthjT by establishing a branch, perhaps it would be interesting to compare this organisation with the ones previously existing here. I shall notice the important point which justifies the ex- istence of this latest Union, and I trust that the other two bodies will soon fall in line, instead of breaking their constitution and accepting charity. The other two bodies are the National Association of D.S. and S. and the Welsh National Federation of D.S. and S., the aims of both being practically identical. These organisations are trying to educate "public opinion" (whatever that might I mean) to the sad plight of the ex-Service! men, to elect their candidates on public bodies, and to further the ex-Service men's case in every way possible. Both are said to be non-political and non-sectarian. These organisations are, I believe, at least as regards the rank-and-file, honestly trying to improve the position of ex-Service men, but neither body has a policy capable of doing so. When any great question con- fronts them, such as an increase in the amount of pensions to meet the ever- increasing cost of living, or, again, fair re- muneration at trade-union rates of wages until work is found their unemployed mem- bers, they have no means to secure these very modest demands. The reason why they arc so powerless is because neither body is affiliated to the great Labour Party. Both organisations are mainly composed of men who are trades unionists, but although they are staunch Labour men they are powerless to act as such in their ex-soldiers' organisations, be- couse they are drawn from various trades, and as ex-soldiers they are powerless standing alone. Consequently, without power, to enforce them, their resolutions find a safe billet in the waste-paper-basket. There is another organisation of dis- charged men, the Comrades" of the Great War, but their position is so well- known that it would be a waste of time to discuss them at length, but here, again, the rank-and-file are misled by officials. Now comes the National Union of Ex- Service Men. This Union, profitting fron: the mistakes of its predecessors, has de- finitely allied itself with the Labour Party. It enters the field not as a foe, but with hands extended to all ex-Service men to join. And just as the Federation would ac- cept an Association member if such mem- ber was dissatisfied with his organisation, so the National Union will accept any man who wishes to line up with Labour. The tremendous advantage this latest Union has over the others is that it will have the Labour Party with it in its future struggles. How can the other bodies make any dis- tinction between a discharged man and a worker? What is a discharged man ?—Ob- viously a worker and trades unionist. True, an ex-Service man has special interests of his own, such as pensions, disablement pay, etc., and his soldiers' organisation is very necessary to define those interests, but why relinquish the power of the Labour Party (their own Party) to enforce these just demands ? Let us hope the Association and Federa- tion rank-and-file will soon see the error of their ways and force their executives to fall in line with Labour. When they have done that nothing can keep discharged men's or- ganisations apart, and unity will be estab- lished. Ex-Service men! the National Union points the way. THE DANGER. I A great danger lurks in the path of the ex-Service man, and that danger is the power of the purse. It is plain to any thinking man that this is a struggle between the have-nots and the haves." Hats off to the men who are willing to help these organisations unconditionally, but beware of the offer which is made with some end in view—to the giver." All their wealth is made by labour, and let us not be too pro- fuse in our thanks when they hand back a little of what they have taken from us. These individuals will give anything from cigarettes to institutions, providing that you do not think for yourselves. They are bit- ter against the workers when on strike, and often try their hardest to smash the Labour unions—they like you to be docile, and do what you are told. What an absurd position ex-Service men will find themselves in should they accept pecuniary or any other assistance—on cer- tain conditions. On the one hand, as or- ganised ex-Service men they will be against strikers; whilst as trades unionists, fighting for a living wage, they will be against their soldiers' organisation. Are the Federation and Association mem- bers going to fall to this power of the purse and be used to smash and blackleg strikers? I think not. Some of their mem- bers will have to strike themselves soon to meet the extra cost of living, and they will not be such fools as to have the rest of their members led against them. Let us hope the tinne when men's souls can be bought for gold has passed, and that ex-Service men are now going to do a bit of thinking for themselves, and when they do that they will find that their interests as ex-soldiers are the same as organised workers--becausc they are workers. If all ex-Service men cleared their minds of prejudice and came together on this point of alliance to the Labour Party instead of the capitalist party, nil these organisations would merge into a great organisation of ex-Service men standing side by side with the Labour Party in the great work of making this country a fir place to live in. If the powers that be cannot do better than it has up to now, let it be cleared out of the path, and the men who won the war— Labour and Soldiers—will win the Peace. A meeting of the National Union of Ex- Service Men will be hHd at Bentlev's Hall on Sunday next at 2.30 p.m. All interested are cordially invited. Come along and ask questions if you are still in doubt.—Yours, etc., P.T.

The U. D.C. and the Use of the blockade Weapon. The General Council of the Union of De- mocratic Control held a meeting lasi week at the Essex Hall, London. Mr. Arthur Ponsonby was in the chair, and amongst others present were Mr. J. Ramsay Mac donald, Mr. Charles Trevelyan, Mr. Charles Roden Buxton, Mr. R. C. Lambert. Mr. E. D. Morel, Lady Barlow, and Mrs. Philip Snowden. The Council unanimous- ly adopted a declaration which stated The Council reafifrms its protest against the treaty with Germany in con- nection with the Austrian and Bulgarian Peace Treaty, which the Government have refused to publish except in summary form. It is affirmed that these treaties embody with even less excuse the same principles of conquest and the same breaches of faith, both with the Allied peoples and with the enemy States concerned. The Council learns with indignation that the Supreme Council at Paris has sanc- tioned the stoppage of the import of foods and raw materials into Germany in order to enforce the evacuation of the Baltic States by a German force which the Allies them- selves by the Armistice terms retained in those countries for their own objects and which the German Government 'has dis- avowed. The Council not only protests against this use of the inhuman weapon of starvation, which faIls most heavily on the weakest and most innocent part of the civilian population, and intensifies the in- dustrial ruin already created by the block- ade policy of the Allies, but emphasises the necessity of taking positive measures for the industrial regeneration of Central and Eastern Europe." In regard to Russia, the Council recorded its emphatic protest against the support which is being given by the British Govern- ment to the forces of General Denikin and Admiral Koltchak in South and East Rus- I sia and of General Judenitch in the Baltic States, and against the application of the blockade to Soviet Russia by whatever new legal formula it may be described. The Council also called the attention of all friends of humanity to the terrible repres- s ion now taking place in Hungary under the eyes and with the connivance of an Allied Pmyer-Rnmania.

For Labour. I IRISH SELF-DETERMINATION I LEAGUE RESOLUTION. I At a meeting "of the MerthjT and Dow- lais branch of the above held on Sunday at the Irish National Foresters Rooms, Dow- lais, presided over by Mr. D. O'Driscoll, the following resolution was passed That we, the members of the above branch, call upon the Irishmen of Merthyr and Dowlais to firmly support Labour in the forthcoming Municipal Elections; see- ing that the Labour Party are the only party whose mandate suits the National as- pirations of the Irish people."

Dockers, metal workers, employees of the Arsenal, transport workers, electricians, and builders have been on strike in Brest for increases of pay and improved condi- tions, and normal conditions have not yet been restored..

The Labour Conference of the League. I GERMAN UNIONS WILL NOT BE REPRESENTED. I AUSTRALIAN UNIONS REFUSE TO DELEGATE. In the issue of-October nth Vorwarts announces that the German Trade Union- ists will not he represented at the Washing- ton Conference convoked under the terms of the League of Nations Covenant. The journal publishes the invitation which was communicated to the German Government under the signature of Frank G. Folk, a member of the American Peace delegation, which was in the following terms Paris. September 30th, 1919. According to the provisions of Article 13 of the Peace Treaty of June 28th, 1919, be- tween the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany, and by virtue of the author- ity delegated to him by the United States Congress, the President of the United States has appointed the first meeting of the yearly Labour Conference therein pro- vided for to open at 12 mid-day on October 29th, 1919, at Washington, and the Gov- ernment of the United States has issued an invitation to every nation, which is a mem- ber of the International Labour Organisa- tion ill ,accordancc with Article 3S7 of the Treaty, to send delegates and other repre- sentatives to Washington to take part in the said Conference. In spite of the fact that Germany and Austria do not at present be- long to the Governments which are de jure members of the said organisation, the Peace delegates decided on the nth inst. that the question of the admission of German and Austrian delegates to the Conference in Washington should be left to the Confer- ence itself, and that meanwhile the Allied and Associated Governments would place no hindrance in the way of German and Austrian delegates who might wish to go to Washington in-anticipation of a favour- able decision. In the session of the Su- preme Council on September 19th it was agreed that the American delegation should be asked in the name of the Conference to inform the German and Austrian delegation of the aforesaid decision of September nth, 1919. I have therefore the honour to in- form you (same statement as to terms of admission repeated). In bringing this communication before you for the purpose of transmission to your Government, may I add, unofficially and confidentially, P'at should German and Austrian delegates desire to proceed to Washington in anticipation of an invitation to take part in the Conference their journey will be facilitated by the United States Government in every way. M. Jouhaux, vice-president of the Trade Union International, stated last week that that body will be genuinely represented at the Washington Conference, which is ex- pected to open at the end of October. The French and British delegations, a full list of which was published in the News Ser- vice last week, have sailed for America. It seems unlikely that Australian Labour will be represented at Washington, as the Federal Government is finding it difficult to select the delegation owing to the refusal of the big Unions in the various States to nominate representatives. No Italian La- bour delegation has been announced. The delegation from Poland, headed by the Minister of Labour, includes representa- tives of the Polish Trade Unions, and it is instructed to support any effort to establish an international convention for the protec- tion of the workers; Poland has already in- troduced an eight-hour day or a 46-hour week.

New Edition of" Red Rubber." The National Labour Press has at length been able to make arrangements for ful- filling the steady demand which has arisen in the past four years for Mr. E. D. Morel's famous book, Red Rubber. The part which Red Rubber played in putting an end to the Congo atrocities—the most prolonged and destructive system of capitalist exploitation of native races that the world has known—has been compared to the influence exercised by IJncle Tom's Cabin in determining the slavery issue in the United States. Twelve years have passed since this "tre- mendous book first saw the light. The children of that day are niow adults, and there are many cogent reasons why the rising generation of the workers, who have been eager readers of Mr. Morel's writings on the war, should familiarise themselves with the terrible tragedy of the Congo. and with Mr. Morel's exposure of it. For the story unfolded in these burning pages conveys a profound moral which La- bour, confronted with the wreckage which a capitalistic society has wrought in Europe, will npt be slow to appreciate. But this is not merely the republication of an epoch making and historic work." Mr. Morel has added new chapters which greatly enhance its value and which bring the narrative up-to-date, i.e., up to July, 1913, when the work of reform became fully accomplished. Despite this additional matter, the Na- tional Labour Press is able to offer the volume for 3/6.