Pioneer

The Joint Industrial Conference. I WILL IT FAIL? I Whether deliberately or unconsciously, the Government is pursuing a policy that can only end in the disruption of the Joint Industrial Conference. The conference was called into being by the Government itself, in February. It was composed of employers and trade unionists1 who came together with the desire to find remedies for the in- dustrial unrest. Together they hammered out a series of proposals which they unani- mously urged the Government to put into immediate effect, including the legal enact- ment of a universal eight-hour day, univer- sal minimum time rates of wages, measures for the prevention of unemployment, and the creation of a permanent Joint Council, representing employers and trade unionists in equal numbers, to advise the Government upon industrial problems. These proposals, had they been frankly accepted by the Government, would have gone far to establish better relations be- tween employers and workpeople. But the Government has displayed extraordinary reluctance in dealing with the scheme. It produced two Bills, one relating to the hours question and the other to the mini- mum wage. From the Hours Bill they have insisted in excluding four classes of workers—the agricultural labourers, the seamen, the police, and the workers occu- pying positions of confidence and responsi- bility, including those engaged in manage- ment. Both the employers and trade union- its representatives have tried without suc- cess to get the Government to reconsider its decision. But at a meeting between the trade union side and the Minister of Labour last week the latter stated definitely that the Government would not consent to include these classes of workers in the Hours Bill. The Trade Union side has accordingly de- cided to ask the employers to agree to a full conference being summoned with p view to submitting the whole issue to their constituent bodies and inviting fresh in. structions. Responsibility for the failure of the conference rests with the Government, and it will be all the greater because a very large number of trade unions had intimated their readiness to join the Council if it were passed.

Our London Letter. I By Our Special London Correspondent— A FNER BROCKWAY. THE DEFEAT. The less said about the part the Labour Party played in defeating the Government last week the better. I admit that the Gov- ernment is so hateful that it may seem al- most a virtue to help to defeat it under any circumstances, but the sequel has shown how dangerous it is to play with principles. The grounds which led the Labour Party to take common action with the alien haters in voting for the exclusion of Frenchmen from the pilotage service to British ports were (i) Objection on the part of the Bri- tish pilots' organisation to French competi- tion; and (2) Objection to any foreigner gaining a knowledge of our ports which might be used against the country in time of war. I need not pause to argue that neither of these objections justify a denial of our International principles. The first might be argued in the case of all trades—it is by the Carson-Bottomley clique,—the second accepts the view that war is inevit- able a position which the International La- I)otir and Socialist Movement exists to chal- lenge all the time. THE SEQUEL. The sequel to which I have referred is a gr<:at justification of the policy advocated for so long by F. W. Jowett, that the La- bour Party ought to vote on every question on its merits. What happened ? The Gov- ernment ignored the Labour Party and con- ferred behind closed doors with representa- tives of the alien-haters. A bargain was there reached that the discounted Coalition- ists would withdraw their opposition on condition the Government accepted an amendment, which it had previously op- posed, authorising the deportation of all alien enemies, with a few specified excep- tions. With this agreement in his pocket, Mr. Bonar Law came to the House on Mon- day, and the Labour Party had to acquiesce. It has simply assisted Carson, Bottomlev, Billing and Co. to get their way, and, having served that purpose, is ignored. The position has been humiliating for the Gov. ernment, but scarcely less so for the Labour Party. Let us hope it has learned a lesson. WEDGWOOD S PROTEST. The speech of Tuesday's debate came from Colonel Wedgwood. He exposed the unclean bargain which the Government had secretly made, and passionately pro- tested against the whole principle of the Bill..At one or two points he w inter- rupted by the angry Coalitionists, but at the end of his speech his earnestness gripped evenone, and he was heard in profound silence. I wish the whole party had taken his attitude. THE ALIENS BILL. I am quite sure that the rank and file of the Labour Movement have little idea of the nature of some of the clauses of the Aliens' Bill. The defeat of the Government on Thursday and the discussion arising from it has diverted attention from pro- posals, the danger of which can scarcely he exaggerated. The part the Labour Party played in bringing about the Government's defeat on the issue of the exclusion of French and Belgian pilots from British ports—a very unfortunate part, I consider —must not cause us to overlook the splen- did fight it put up for our international principles on other issues. Coloned Wedg- wood and Mr. Jack Jones led the fight, but they were supported by Mr. Adamson, Mr. Hartshorn, Mr. Neil Maclean, and, at one point, even by Mr. John Hodge. When the character of the Government's proposals are realised my readers will not be surprised that the Labour Party should have rallied in this way. DANGEROUS CLAUSES. I One of the clauses prohibits any alien, under a penalty of ten years penal servi- tude, from attempting to cause disaffection among, not only the forces of the Crown, but the civilian population As the Labour spokesman pointed out, this provision would endanger all Socialists who came to this country from foreign countries to at- tend an International Socialist Conference. Hartshorn reminded C. B. Stanton that. at an International Miners' Conference in Germany which they both attended, nearly 20 years ago, one of the delegates was es- corted across the frontier because of the speech he delivered. I can imagine how in- dignant Stanton then was against such tv- rany, but last week he supported this clause in the Aliens' Bill, which would have ren- dered the excluded miners' delegate liable to a sentence of ten years penal servitude WHAT IT MEANS. J Another clause prohibits any alien from attempting to cause any unrest unless he has been employed in this country for two years, and even then he must not attempt to cause unrest in any industry outside his own. Neil Maclean showed how this clause would work out in practice, by taking the example of the recent 40 hours' strike in Glasgow. The chairman of the Strike Com- mittee was a Jew, and the strike affected other industries than his own. Under this clause he would have been liable to a sen- tence of three months' hard labour. In answer to a question, Mr. Shortt, the Home Secretary, stated quite clearly that a miner who was not a British citizen would be af- fected by the provision if he took an active part in any movement of the Triple Al- liance SINN FEIN ESCAPE. The series of escapes of Sinn Feiners from prisoll-LÜlcoln. Dublin, and now Man- chester—is making the Government look very ridiculous. I was in Lincoln Prison when De Yalera and his two colleagues es- j caped, and the next morning I had the full story from one of the Sinn Feiners who re- mained. The Press published many ex- planations of the escape, but none of them was correct. The actual plan, carried through without a single hitch, was as clever, exciting and romantic as any con- tained in the novels of mediaeval days—but 1 must not reveal it in case the Sinn Feiners want to repeat it elsewhere I never once saw the Sinn Fein prisoners at Lincoln, though I communicated with them, with- out the knowledge of any official, every day And this was despite the fact that we were at different ends of the prison and that I was kept in strict solitary confinement. I see that Mr. Alex McCabe, M.P., one of my best Lincoln friends, has just been sen- tenced to another term of three months' hard labour for a patriotic—I mean, sedi- tious speech. A SOCIALIST VETERAN. Travelling to fulfill a speaking engage- ment on Sunday, I had the fortune to jour- ney part of the way with Mrs. Dcspard. What a wonderful old woman she is On the crowded platform at King's Cross Sta- tion she stood out from all the men and women around her—a veritable Prophet of the Revolution Despite her age, she walked erect and with supreme dignity. In her face one could read the resolution of which martyrs are made, the fire of the re bel, the idealism of the mystic, the refine- ment of the artist. I have not met her for four years, and she appears somewhat older and more frail than she was, hut in conver- sation she immediately revealed that she is as young in mind and spirit as ever. She could not sufficiently express her t:l1thl1-I' siasm for the concluct dtiriiig,? the recent strike. Wasn't it a wonderful strike? she exclaimed. "The solidarity of the men Their refusal to be led into violence Their willingness to sacrifice for the lower-paid men Mrs. Despart lent one of her rooms at Battersea to the strikers. You may judge the strength of our men," she said, when I tell you that the secre- tary sat there from ten in the mcraing until six-thirty at night on the day the strike-pay was distributed, and there was a continual stream of men through the room." Mrs. Despard recounted to me some of her ex- periences in prison in the days of the women's suffrage agitation. Her whole body shook with indignation as she described the deteriorating effects of prison upon young girls.

Mr. Hodges Explains. Mr. Frank Hodges, secietary of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, told the delegates at the conference 6n Thurs- day that the only way in which reduced prices can be effected temporarily is to di- vert excess profits to the actual reduction of prices Asked on Friday for an explanation, Mr. 1 Hodges replied f mean that, as a tem- porary measure, the Government should in- troduce legislative measures to restrict the rate of profit in all industries to a uniform level. This should be done so as either to reduce the prices of essential commodities i by direct subsidies—as is done in the case of bread—out of the surplus thus obtained; or fix prices at such a level as would only yield the agreed rate of profit upon capital invested in such industries." Mr. Hodges condemned the proposal to excess profits for this specific purpose, and remove the ^50,000,000 annual subsidy on breadA on the ground that it is taken from it is not fair to hand this money to the Ex- chequer for general national expenditure, and make the consumer pay an increased price for bread.

Referendum on Nationalisation The findings of a Royal Commission, whose recommendations the Government was pledged to accept in letter and spirit as the basis of legislation, has descovered the urgency of the nationalisation of coal mines. The Government has gone back upon its pledges and its Commission, and has defi- nitely refused Nationalisation. It is the Government of a country that boasts of its democratic constitution. The ultimate ap- peal with democracy is to a referendum of the electorate. Why then this gem from Monday's Parliamentary debates?— Mr. Grattan Dowle (C.U. -Newcastle, N.) asked whether, in view of the import- ance now assumed by the question of the nationalisation of the mines, the Govern- ment would adopt the democratic and con- stitutional methods of submitting the issue to the free and unfettered verdict of the people by a referendum of the whole elec- torate. Mr. Bonar Law The Government are not prepared to adopt the suggestion.

I Football at Merthyr. BEST EXHIBITION OF THE SEASON.. TWO-GOAL VICTORY AGAINST < BRENTFORD. There was one thing about the Merthyr- Brentford match at Penydarren Park last Saturday that has been absent from every previous home engagement of the season, everyone were unanimous in admiration "f the game. And deservedly so too, for from first to last it was as sporty a ninety- five minutes football as anyone could de- sire, played in wonderful good spirit on both sides; and unmarred by any. touch of selfish individualism. That last I am afraid has not always been a virtue of our forward line; but now that it has been acquired with results so happy as the two clear goal win of Saturday, I trust that the inducement will prove an incentive to its incorporation as a definite policy on the part of the red- and greens. So much for that. For the rest, Saturday's side, so far as the attack was concerned, was by nature of being an experiment—an experiment dras- tic enough to indicate a discontent with the past forward set as deep with the manage- ment as with spectators. Barnfather, the ex-Croydon winger, made his first ap- pearance in the Town colours at the ex- tremity of the left half of the line, and was partnered by Turner. Poulton retained his place at centre-forward—a sensible decision in my opinion; whilst on the right Chivers, who has shone so well at centre-half, was given a chance to show his versatility, by transportation to the inside post, and Rees Williams, whose previous turn-outs with the first eleven have shown him the posses- sor of a rare turn of speed, was again out as Chivers' right hand partner. This trans- position of Chivers brought Holder out for the first time in the pivot post, and a last- minute change was made by substituting George for Edwards, who was advertised to take the field at right-half. Ireland and Probert shared the last line, and Gibbon re- tained his job as goalie. This meant an almost complete re-shuffle. But it meant more. It meant that with Chivers perfectly partnering Rees Williams, that agile youngster's remarkable electric rushes down field did something more than pro- vide a mere eye-filling and thrilling mo- ment of play-which the youngster had only been able to do on his previous excur- sions. Now he had a partner, who worked with him after giving him opportunities as well as before, and the result was a beauti- ful second goal to Chivers' credit—or rather to the credit of a perfectly co-oper- ating wing. Poulton, who has not got a selfish bone in his body, was unlucky in not scoring just before Chivers netted the second. Turner, who beat Price with as neat an on-the-run attempt as I remember seeing, was also inspired with a sense of collectivism last .Saturday—a sense that I rather thought he lacked before—perhaps unj ustly to him. Barnfather was absolutely new- to team and ground, but there was a workmanlike look about all that he did that was most promising. In the halves Yarwood, as ever, was a tower to strength, and George was doing well on the right. The weakness during the earlier stages in this line was Holder, who with the proper build for the position seemed indecisive in his tactics. He steadied up afterwards, and before I would pronounce judgment on him. I should like to see him in the same position once of twice more. Ireland played a good, steady game, and Probert was reliable, whilst Gibbon on th. occasions that he was seriously challenged showed a coolness and judgment that speaks well for his maturing custodianship. On the whole it was the- best experiment so far conducted at the Park in team-building, there being none of the painfully weak endings that has hither- to plunged supporters into despair. Indeed, by contrast it was Brentford that came out weak in the finishing, for their work before reaching a shooting position was fine in its swinging moves. In parti- cular were the visitors strong" on the right wing where Cartnell and Hanks partnered. The absence of Hendren, their crack winger, from the oilier extremity possibly explained why they were somewhat lop- sided in their attack on Saturday. But at that they had some ill-luck in front of goal, and on one occasion in the second half after a sharp attack they looked like open- ing the scoring, and I do not yet know how they failed to get ahead. Between the-two Merthyr goals they made another big at- tempt, but it failed, and thereafter they fell away, and the end of the match came with an attack at 110 greater cost than a fruitless corner, and Hawkins was glad to get off for nothing worse than another abortive corner.

I Reduction of Armaments. I IS IT PRACTICABLE ? In the House of Commons on Monday. Mr. Bonar Law, replying to Mr. O. Moslev (C.U.—Harrow), said the Government would always support the League of Na- tions in any measure that would tend to- wards a reduction of armaments which, in their opinion, would be practicable, but he did not think the suggestion of a measure of universal disarmament would be practic- able at present.