Pioneer

ARE WE DOING YOUR PRINTING ? We have the most modern equipment, and  good work is quickly turned out by Trade ?momsts at reasonable rates. ,?, NOTE THE ADDRESS ltie LABOUR pioneer PRESS wiiiiams,, Square, Merthyr Tydfil.

irade Union Notes. A WELCOME RETURN FEATURE. By TRADE CNIOInIBT. The Government has declared that no more increases of wages must be granted to workmen. The declaration has been made on the plea of national economy. I wonder what the 'trade Unionists of the country think of it. And what do the Trade Union leaders who have been so conspicuous in their support of the Government think of it? Whatever the sapient leaders think, I have a very shrewd guess that the rank and file members look up- on it as scandalous, and will have none of it They know very well that the increase in wages they have secured is nothing like the increase in the price of commodities. 1. have not yet learned that the Government lias declared—or intends to declare—that em- ployers shall not furthek* increase their profits. True. employers in certain industries have been compelled to accept a limitation of profits, but the margin still left for them in the way of war profits is a very wide one. What a bout the profits of millers, colliery owners, shipowners, and many other owners, who have been, and are still making enormous profits on account of the war ? Profits that are, without question, the result of the scandalous exploitation of the purchasing pubfic. Why do they not interfere in these cases? Let Trade tiiioiiists ask themselves that question, and the answer must naturally occur to them is, that these em- ployers are too powerful on account of their economic position, to be assailed by a Govern- ment such as we have; a Government, more- over, whose sympathies are with them as a. class, and against the working class. No, the Trade Unions must resist this decree, and de- mand and secure a rate of wages, whenever that is possible, that is adequate to meet the necessities of these trying times. ahout increasing wages, reminds me of a paragraph that I read in a daily paper last week concerning the price of bread. Mr. F. C. Finch (the Secretary of the Master Bakers' Protection -Society) said that the seri- ous problem of freights has led some people to believe that the 41b. loaf may eventualy cost He, however, thinks that there is only a bare possibility of such a thing. Well, all wo can say is, that the anticipation of the bare possibility of such a thing fills us with alarm. The Gel, loaf is now selling at 8d. and 9d., and if it advances to 1/ I opine that many pat- riots will call aloud, for the discontinuance of the war. Almost the only thing talked of in Trade Union circles now is the Compulsory Military Servieo Bill. The resolutions passed at ordinary and special meetings of Trades Unions, the emphatic decisions arrived at in various confe- rences, all indicate the alarm with which the possibility of Conscription is causing them. And well, it may. They know that whatever safeguards are inserted in the Bill, whatever the nature of personal Ministerial pledges given —the ultimate resiflt will be a less free and independent industrial class. Trade Union activity will be reduced; many hard-won privi- leges will be taken, away; in every way will Trade Unionism, as such, be made less effective in its efforts to improve working class conditions. Once again, during this week, will an oppor- tunity be given for Labour to declare its atti- tude towards this momentous and sinister proposal. The Labour Party's Annual Confe- rence is to be held on Wednesday and Thursday at Bristol, and I have no doubt that the resolu- tions already passed with such enormous ma iorities at other conferences will be carried aga:n with ever greater majorities and ra- aga-?Ti wi tl,, ever ji'la 'o i-, es aii(l Apropos of the Bristol Conference, an article appealed in' the "Daily News and Leader" from the pen of Mr. frank JJiinot, who was editor of the now defunct Daily Citizen," iB. which a remarkable tribute iiias paid to the power of the I.L.P. He is writing about the issues to be decided at the conference, and who are lihtely to influence the conference either for or against .Conscription. Let it be remem- bered that Mr. Dilnot is not likely to be enam- oured of the I.L.P. just now, owing to the fact of hi& convictions on the war being in direct opposition to those of the Independent Labour Party. He says: The Socialists are at the Conference, and they are principally represented by the Independent Labour Party; and it is the Independent Labour Party, men who will, lead the debate against the Govern- ment proposal. They include the best speak- ers in the Labour movement. They are ideal- ists: they are determined. They will state the Trade Union arguments against the Bill in a way which may easily convert many wavering Trade. Unionists." To this I shout a fervid "Amen" I He goes-on to say "The I.L.P. -delegates represent only a membership of 31,000 out of a membership of 2,200,000 repilB- sented at the conference, and yet the force and capacity of the I.L.P. men will give them an enormous advantage. Mr. W. C. Anderson, M.Pj who is one of them, will be in the chair, and the others include Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, Snowden, Bruce Glasier and Jowett. They are a formidable band." The whole Trade Union and Labour move- ment lies under a deep debt of deep grati- tude to Mr. J. H. T homas, M.P., of the Na- tional Union of Railwayrnen, and Mr. Bob Sniillie, of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, for the energy and ability that they have shown—not to speak of; the courage-- in combating Conscription. But regarding what should, be done after the Bill has become an Act-as it undoubtedly will—it is obvious that their opinions conflict. Mr. Thomas, in an interview published in the "Ohristian Com- monwealth" of last week, made the following important declaration:I do not think any- one can say what will happen after the Bill nas passed, but I know what ought not to hap- and what I should be bound to do my best prevont. There should be no question of tnkes" I shall have no "hand in promoting lndustnal revolution while the war goes on." He-adds, however., that if the guarantees were disregarded a situation would arise which would call for a different policy. Mr. Smillie said at t,,b(I National Conference of Scottish Trades Union: To me this Bill, when ifc becomes law. will be a; bad law, and I personally feel justified in doing all in my power to rentier it ineffective.< The road to follow is by no means easy to determine, but I must say that Mr. Thomas' de- claration is. to say the least, premature, and if the powers that be have sufficient assurances of that kind from Trade Union leaders, they will be much encouraged in their work of putting the fetters on the working class, while, on the other hand, it is not at all unlikely that were those in power assured of the strenuous and uncompromising opposition (expressed by Smillie) of all Trade Union leaders, they would soon come to realise that it would be impossible to carry out their sinister purposes.

Navvy Pat's Views. Hullo. Pat! How goes it?" was the salu- tation as Pat entered the taproom with a, fort- night old" Pioneer n in his hand; "How's the world using you?" Sure, fur meself I can't complain; I'm all right barring a cowld; but things don't cum tight quick enough to plaze me. Here's Com- rade S^onekike wasbin' hk time and the Pioneer's" space in complainin' that some ov the stinkpots that's always fumigatin' the coal- field has brushed agin the I.L.P., an' the odour is as odious as it is odorous; (no pun intended, though it's narrow escape); but. cheer ii-p i Stonelaife, ye ought to know by this time that to be slandered, scoffed an' stormed at is the hall-mark of genuine merit, while the biggest swindles an' swindlers in the wurld are praised sky high till they are fouiitiout; an' all the tales ye're gruntin' at won't hurt the I.L.P. wan little bit, conside^in' the quarter they cum from. And here's Brace tellin' ws on his word ov honour that there's no industrial conscription in the Compulsory Service Bill. We aUknow that though the bosses has driven lots into the army wid industrial conscription, there's none ov it in the Bill; but he had to say some- thing to us to earn that cupple ov thousands that jingles into his pocket since he went into the Cabinet. Long ago he told us that we cud not belong to the M.F.G.B., Iur. thÐF wud not have us as long as prices regulated wages; an5 he got the old scale abolished, an' we joined the M.F.G.B.; an' then they fixed a lot ov equivalents to regulate wages each wan ov them a price, an' Brace had a hand in fiixing them. They say that he arranged fur n@ advance to be made between the two equivalents 14/- and 14/9; the silliest part ov a blunderin' bargain, .an' Mabon an' Brace tald us that volume of trade an' ma'rgin ov profits were fadars in regulatin' our wages as well as the equivalents. We all knew that cudn't be, for volume of trade can't be measured and applied to wages, an' margin of profit we couldn't get a glimpse of, even when we shared in the audit; we only got average sellin' "price. Now that, ov coorse, wasn't a great swindle seein' the two great men who set it a-goin'; but isn't it awf^ ul like wan, every feature ov it, eh Stonelake? An' wan ov them is in the Privy Council, an' the other a Cabinet Minister, an' the man who called the move by its right name is on the parish, and not wan ov ye even got en his hind legs an' shouted That's not f a,li By the way, the Labour Parlimentary Party demands that the three Labour Ministers resign. Ye see, there's no room in the Cabinet fur more Labour members, an' the only chance the rest ov them Inwe is for each wan to resign as soon as he gets a quarter or half- year's salary in his pocket. Let them fight it out among themselves, but, if ye be wise, don't let them eome back on the Labour Executive. About this Conscription now; it's an ugly wurd, an' I don't like it: but is it fair that the best blood of all ranks should be spilted so lavishly, an' the best men ov the Gountry suf- for such hardships, and meet death or disable- ment while slackers by the thousands live at home at ease an' propogate the slacker breed. I am agin war. in any form barrin' a faction fight or a boxin' bout, but war has been since the wurld began, an' In savage times, warlike tribes enslaved peaceable wans, an' do it to- day in Africa and elsewhere an' it's the same wid nations, an' until every nation adopts the anti-war doctrine an' agrees to disarm simulta- neous like, no nation cud disarm alone or it wud be divided like Poland among its warlike neighbours. If we stopped Germany's game when she tooic Schleswig-Holstein from Den- mark, there wud have been no Keil Canal; an' if Salisbury had refused Heligoland to Germany in exchange for a patch of "Africa, the Keil Canal wud not have been so secure- as it is. Even our Saviour ordered His disciples to sell their cloaks an' buy swords, an' the nation that first, and single-handed, beats its swords into ploughshares an' its spears into prunin' hooks will be doomed. Nevertheles, war is accursed, and must be ended. The time for disarmament and universal peace will come after 'Deutschland Uber Alles' and Rule Britaynnia,' with every similar song from every nation, have been abolished as be- longing to the age of hooliganism, and the paci- vists, all the wurld over. have a majority that renders the minority negligible. Till then na- tional freedom has to be maintained by a suffi- ciency of fighting men an' fighting material; ye mad, Pat?" asked Sandy McPherson; "wud ve hae Britain startin' tae fight the world to establish British freedom?" I wild not, me Mtoy; Britain has dun ey-tuff ov that already, an' has been the biggest land grabber ov the lot, an' has introduced the vices ov civilisation to tribes who were livin' as near as possible in a state ov nature; an' has coined the blood an' sweat ov the natives into gold for British capitalists and government of- ficials. But bad as she has been, Britain is now mendin' her ways, improvin' the condition of life in every subject country, an' as she rules the waves, she keeps them as an open road free to the commerce ov the wurld, If this war succeeds in banishin' the Hohenzoll- erns an' freein' Prussian land from the thral- dom ov the Junkers, I needn't be a bit sur- prised to find Germany and Britain the two biggest industrial nations in the wurld. wid Amerika a good third at the head ov the wurld's peace movement, an' working together fur the com in' ov the Millenium." Shouts of "'Pro-German" from all over the room, which Pat took very quickly. Not a hit.ov it, bhoys; Germany is learn- ing her lesson from the Allies' teachin', an' the lesson is severe, an' will be driven home to her; an' -whin she's had, time to digest it, she will be a different Germany; an' we an' our Allies are learnin' somethin' too, an' we'll learn to look on war as an expensive madness, an' its capitalistic promoters as noxious vermin' to be treated wid insect pqwder: an' we'll learn to class politicians as unnecessary evils, inl ex-I terminate the breed an' the wurld will be worth livin' in whin all them nuisances are abated. A round of applause followed this speech, and the insurance man pushed to the front, and accused Pat of disloyalty, want of patri- otism, and of trying to mislead his audience, both industrially and politically. Howld yer whisht!" says Pat, or av ye must spake, spake ov what ye know somethin' about, an' don't open out on subjicts about which ye can only expose yer own ignorance. Stick to yer insurance; don't go beyond that; t ne suter ultra orepidam,' is good advice if ye know what it means; an' I'll show ye that I know somethin, Aboiit insurance, and some- thing about you. I towld ye last time we met that ye did not pay out in benefits more than 3d. for every 1/- ye collected, an' yer own balance sheet showed I was pretty near right; an' just this week I came across a new Pruden- tial calendar for 1916 wid the information—to- 11 tal claims paid £ 126,000,000; tota1 funds £ 94,000,000; now when they pay 40 per cent. ov the premium income fur workin' expenses, an' accumulated 94 million pounds, can't ye see that there is no room fqf more than 3d. in the 1 j paid out to them that gives them the money they make their fortunes on? But let us take yer own dealings. Some 5 years ago a young man bought a small book in your disrtict in the Rhondda Valley, an' al- though he worked hard, cud scarcely- mabfc a livin', an' ye gave him some tips as to how to get more business,.an' he didn't like it, an' he towld ye about a boy that had insured the owld man he 1 edged with as his father, while lie was only his uncle, an' all such policies was illegal since 1909, an' ye towld him to mind his own business an' coltect all the premiums in his book. Well, the owld man died, and the young un put in his claim an' ye went to him yerseJf wid a cheque for the amount an' a paper for him to sign, an' afore ye'd let him sign ye towld him that if there was ehny false information in the policy, and they found it out, he wud be prosecuted for obtainin' mo- ney -by false pretences, and get prison for it, an' the young 'un was wise, an' wudn't take the cheque, an' whin your young collector heard the story he threw his book in yer face, an' refused to work enny longer under ye." The insurance man was making strong efforts to reach the door, but Pat blocked the way. Ye don't stir from here till I've done wid ye. Here's three m-ore cases," handing a slip of paper with names on it to him. Two women insured their aunts, and one her uncle, but as these were illegal in 1909 they were in- sured as sisters and brother of the women who took out the policies, an' the collector towld them it would be all right, no bother would be 'I made. Them three lives fell in durin' the last three months, and ye refused to pay them; towld them you were not responsible fur anything the collector had said, an' he. had sold his book and left the district, an' if they pressed their claim they would be prose- cuted. "■ And last ov all, a fellow enlisted in the transport service wid a policy for d624 since 1906, and he got killed in an accident a month ago, an' ye pointed out to the widow the clause in the policy that bars out deaths on active service, an' offered her L-6 as charity. She was. plucky, an' wrote to headquarters, an' down came an order to pay up at wance, and it nearly cost ye yer job. An' now ye're comin' here, an' I'll watch ye, an' if ivver I catch ye trippin'. I'll give yer bosses all that I've found oubt about ve, an' it'll be goodbye John an' ye'd better not come here again We're a rough lot, but we're clean. I

re.o.e.ti"i' ¡I ) Trade Uit I, t s ) v Y ou are —aware tT hat, at t. his  You are aware that, at this | period of the year, your Fed- | erations and Lodges have a good | I deal of Printing Work to give I I out, and we would ask you to i  KEEP IN MIND  j lw Nim, I n N!s I The fact that every Penny of I Profit made in our Jobbing De- ) I partment goes towards helping to I strengthen the PIONEER." ) 1 The Paper that is run by your | Fellow Unionists in your Interests. I I 2 .— • |^ I The PIONEER" imprint on your work is the I | surest index to the vitality of your Trades I Unionism and its absence will, in the future, I be regarded as your failure to recognise your I broader duties as Trades Unionists. I IliiflHHIIiaBHBitiamBOiaBHiHaHnBMMHMtlHBiMaBU J HAVE YOU PAIN ? J. Swift, Atterciiffe, Sheffield, says r—" The first dose'gave me great relief. I can confidently say that one box of fliese pills has done me more good than all the medicine I have taken." Mrs. A. Wilkinsoi), of Nelson, states: "My sister, who suffered from weak kidneys, took one box. and it lias done her more good than pounds spent on medical men." HOLDROYD'S GRAVEL PILLS, a positive cure for Givavel, Pains ia the Back, Dropsy, Bright's Disease of the Kidneys, Goat, Sciatica; Is. 3d., all chemists; post free 14 stamps.— HOLDROYD'S MEDICAL HALL, Cleckheaton.

Tonyretail Notes. The landlords of some of the houses at Tonyr- efail do not seem to be aware of the contents of The Ilesti-letion of Rents Act." Some of them are trying to shift their burden of the war tax and lay it on the shoulders of the working man by raising the rent of his cot- tage, and when this is protested against by the tenant, he has received notice to quit. If these people are wise, they will refuse to pay any increase in rent, and take no heed of the notice to quit, as the Act protects them from these greedy landlords on both points. What the Act does not protect us against is the vile treacherous action. of some of our fellow workmen, who have gone t-o the landlords and offered to pay the increased rent which the tenant had refused to pay. How can we expect to be treated fairly by the capitalist when our own fellow workers are ready to bribe the landlords in this way, and try to turn the wife and children of'"another man out into the street. It is high time that the loca-t Trades and Labour Council took this matter into con- sideration, and endeavoured to do something to protect honest and straight-forward work- men against these greedy landlords, and to expose the vile, under-handed methods resorted to by some men to get possession of a house tenant by a fellow-worker. The need of instruction and education is 4 sorely felt every day amongst the workers. A difference arose between a workman and the management, ending in the dismissal of the worker, has caused considerable interest at the Coed Ely Colliery. The Committee got him a. concession which was not favourable—therefore not acceptable. They did all they could to get him reinstated—without avail, owing to his own indiscreet action. All workmen, be- fore taking any action in respect to grievances, should first consult. their Union officials. Precepts, in these days, are lavished, freely upon the people. At a recent musical practice at Tonyrefail. a minister of Christ delivered an address imploring upon all present" to make all the sacrifice they possibly could during the national crisis; a.t the same time declaring that he thought that the young men were not making all the sacrifices they could. It may be interesting to learn that the same person recently, and during the present crisis, has become an owner of a motor-cycle. Last Thursday. Ja-miary 20, the Tonyrefail Electro-technic Class visited the Coed Eiv Electric Plant, which is most modern in its construction. Every facility, with instruction by Alr, Thomas, the electrical engineer, was afforded by Mr. Jacobs, the agent. The sanitary condition of some of the roads is already causing considerable comment on the indiscreet action of the Council in dismis- sing aged workmen; also their disregard for the welfare of the community. Workmen, old and young, must remember this immoral ques- tion of false economy at the next Council election.