Pioneer

SIX MEN'S TERRIBLE 14 HOURS. I H EROIG RESCUE WORK PROVES SUC- CESSFUL. Monday was a day of anxiety at the Aber- cwmboi Pits of the Powell Dufiryn Company, for a big fall of roof in the main heading of the four foot seam in the new distffct that is being opened out from a hard heading from the 2ft. in. sea,m-about 500 yards from the pit bottom, as a result of which six men were entombed for 14 hours. Happily, after heroic rescue operations, the whole six were rescued. The .six men were:- .James Harris, fireman, of 25 Woodland Terrace, Mountain Ash; Llewellyn Jones, timberman, of Glannont Y ilia, Abercwmboi; John Jones, labourer, of 3 Tanycoed Ter- race, Abercwmboi; George Rowe, labourer, 29 John Street, Abercwmboi; John Llewellyn, 101 Woodland Street, Mountain Ash; Benjamin Evans, labourer, of 9 Lewis St., Mountain Ash; The men were engaged on the Sunday night shift, and when overwhelmed were dealing with a fall, of smaller dimensions, which had al- ready taken place at a point about 15 yafrds from the face. The men were working on the inside of the minor fail, when Wm. Davies, a haulier, ob- served that a "pinch" was taking place, and lie shouted a warning to Llewelyn Jones and Howe, who were putting up timber, and he also drew the attention of fireman Harris, who was supervising the repair work, to the squeeze. The other men were working in the face on the rubbish from the minor fall. Before these men could be made to realise their danger, a huge fall took place, cutting off the escape, and driving the two Jones and Howe back to the coal face-part of their clothing and belongings being buried under the fall. Davies, who was ki a place of safety outside the fall, immediately conveyed information of the disaster to the principals, and Mr. Trevor Jones, under-mana- ger, was quickly on the scene. A message was also conveyed to the Company's Agent at Aber- aman (Mr. G. D. Budge), who was also early on the scene of the accident. q A consultation took place, and it was decided to drive a spout hole 4ft. square through an old gob waste to the right of the fall, though before tins could be done some time had to be spent timbering the vicinity to make it safe for the rescue party. Plenty of help was forthcom- ing. and parties, who worked in relays, were directed by the company's officials from other pits, namely, Messrs. W. Rake and Ste- phens, Aberaman Davies, of Iflettyshenkin ,iii d il and Moore, of Oefnpemnar. Mr. Jones and Mr. Budge remained underground from the commencement of the operations until the moment the men were rescued in the afternoon. Signall knockings encouraged the rescuers to continuous herculean effprts; and these were continued right through the operations until at 1'p.na. after a. distance of 19 yards had been driven, it was possible to hear the entombed men speaking, and the glad news that the whole six were safe was then ascertained, and passed out, and conveyed to the anxious rela- tives. When at last the final partition was bro- ken down, it was found that the men were not even in need of the assistance of the Ambulance,, which had been kept in readiness.

RESCUERS AND SURVIRORS. I RESCUERS AND SURVIVORS. I Seen after the men had been rescued, Mr. George Hann, the assistant general manager of the company, who visited the colliery several times during the day, said to a "South Wales Daily News" representative: "No one is more delighted than myself that the men have 'been safely rescued." Mi-. Hann said that the res- cue party drove a distance of som* 19 yards through the gob and found that the entombed men had made their way towards their rescuers for about three yards. Mr. Jones, the under-managed, attributed the sudden squeeze and the subsequent fall to a pressure of water which had percolated through the strata. It was, he said, a fortunate thing that the men had the fireman, Mr. Harris, to lead them, and that they went to the side of the face where they were found or their rescue would have been highly difficult. Mr. Jones said that Mr. Harris decided to put out four of the lamps in order that the oxygen in the atmosphere might not be used up. Mr. Harris, seen by the above Press represen- tative at the pit top, said: "The sound of the rescuers at work was the best music I have ever heard." Mr. Harris explained that the sitl-e of the face to which they first went for safety gradually collapsed, and they had to hurry to the other side. The timber in the place had been covered in by the fall and they had to resort to building up stone walls around them in order to render the place as fcafe as possible under the circumstances. Mr. Harris said that the sound of the squeeze was like the poun- ding of artillery. The space they were con- fined in was about 6 yards by 2' yards, and 3 to 4ft. high. Llewellyn Jones said if they had been shut in for another day or so he didn't think they would have been rescued alive, as the place would have closed in. They had no tools to work their way back, and they scraped the rub- bish away with their hands. The other rescued men, who were somewhat dazed, quietly agreed that they had had a mi- raculous escape from death. Mr. Owen Powell, Miners' Agent for the dist- net. descended the pit during the afternoon.

Bargoed "Flag Day." I A successful "Flag Day" for the benefit of the Welsh hospitals for wounded soldiers under the control of the St. John Ambulance. Asso- ciation was held at Bargoed and Aberbargoecl on Saturday. The movement was organised by the local branch of the St. John Ambulance Association, under the direction of Captain -Ben Rees, Captain Davies, and others. In the even- ing a procession, headed by the Aberbargoed Band (oonductor, Mr. Hamblin) ,and including contingents of the 1st Mons.. the Cheshires, and other regiments, the loc,al fire brigades, Red Cross nurses. Church Lads' and Boys' Brigades and other organisations, paraded the principal streets of the town, and substantial collections were made.

This terrible war Is killing a lot of businesses. I Make it a personal resolve that the Pioneer shal! not be killed.

1915=1950. FROM PEACEFUL- SAINT DAVID TO THE MILITARY SAINT GEORGE. For the sake of new readers of the "Pioneer," which, 1 am glad to know, has an ever-increas- ing circulation, and perhaps to refresh the memories of those who have followed my arti- cles weekly, I will just give a brief introductory summary of the numerous articles that have appeared recently under the above title-"1915 —1950." In the year 1950 a certain Dr. Homes, an American, who had won a world-wide reputa- tion as the discoverer of the "bacillus vinococ- cus, or alcoholic germ, which infected alco- holic or drunken persons, published a wonderful book called Physical and Social Poisons that Prevent Progress." The book attracted the at- tention of the Nobel Trustees, who awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize. In those articles entitled "1915-50," I have tried to review the con tents of this book, which, breifly put,' is a candid analysis and criticism of the persons in society prior to 1950, and particularly during the Great European War of 1915, who made certain utterances or wrote certain statements. The Doctor has appended in his book thous- ands of spee-ehes, writings and extracts made by people who suffered from the ravages or in- fection of a new germ that he discovered which he called the "bacillus pair iotococcus" (patrio- tic germ). In his evidence he shows that this germ often plays havoc on persons in all countries, even in times of peace (e.g., Bern- hardi in Germany, etc.), but the germ really reaped its greatest harvest of victims dutring war-time. One further point Dr. Homes makes clear in his book is that there is a remarkable degree U l o cl e,?q-,ec? of similarity between the deeds, writings and statements of a person suffering through the ravages of the "bacillus patrioticoeoccus" and the blubberings and gesticulations of the "vino- coccus" fiend (or inebriate). In former articles I have given extracts from Dr. Homes' remarkable book, showing the influence of this "patrioticococcus" germ on the following prominent people, many of whom will be well known to Pioneerites by name:- Bernhardi; Blatchford Bottomley; R. J. Camp bell; Prebendary Carlisle; Hall Caine; Winston Churchill; Marie Corelli Professor Cramb and Will Crooks. I hope to exhaust the extracts in due course by giving a sample of the utterances or writ- ings of these infected people in alphabetical or- der. This week I hope to devote the whole of the article to give the readers Dr. Homes' views of a oublic man, very much in the pub- lic eye at present—the Rt. Hon. David Lloyd George, M.P. I shall let the Doctor speak for himself in the following extracts David Uoyd George.The famous "little Welsh lawyer," who ultimately worked his way persistently and doggedly. despite all the abuse, calumny and mud-slinging which a public man of his type gratuitously gets, to the highest offices in the British Cabinet as Minister of Munitions. In pre-war days so great was the admiration of many Welsh peo- ple for this champion of Welsh Disestablish- ment, Home Rule and the famous Budget of 1909, which gave the deserving and aged poor their long-promised Old Age Pensions, that, despite t1 eir protestantism, they well nigh canonised him. This would have been done but for the unfortunate national contro- versy that arose amongst Celtic Cymmro- dorions as to whether he should be called Saint David the Second of Wales or Saint George of Wales—a quarrel as odious as the controversy amongst the Cymmrodorion So- cieties as to whether the national emblem of Wales was to be the evil-smelling leek or the sweet-smelling English daffodil. All the above occurred in the pre-Europeam War days. During the European War, the Doctor states this mighty politician succumbed to the ravages of the "bacillus patrioticococcus" and immediately his great power of oratory swerved around and in direct contrast to his political speeches as a rebel and ranter against landlordism, idle rich and plutocratic peers and I their exploitation of the people, he allied him- self with Lord Derby and other retrogressive members of the Upper, House (that other place, as Lloyd George delighted to caH it in his pre-I war speeches) in their endeavour to turn Eng- land Wales and Scotland into one great arsenal to provide high explosive shells and other hu- man life destroyers for the greedy maws of huge guns on the Continent. Such a contrast is his action and speeches as a Minister of Munitions with his conduct as an insignificant Member of Parliament during the last war England was engaged in the South African War. One of his numerous biographies says: -"The South African War forms an important epoch in his life. Never did a man show such con- summate courage. Convinced of the righteous- ness of his policy, he was daring enough to visit Birmingham (the home of the Imperialis- tic Chamberlains) on the night of December 18, 1901, and speak to a people mad with rage. What a scene there was on that memorable night. It was fortunate for him, and for Wales, that he escaped injury, as his life had been openly threatened." His brave and rebellious speech and conduct at Birmingham rankled in the minds of the capitalist press four years after, as is shewn by the following extract from the "Daily Mail," commenting on Lloyd George's promotion to the Cabinet as President of the Board of Trade:- Nobody in the country knows less concern- ing the policy-of his Government than Mr. Lloyd George. That he will ever enter into a Cabinet again is unlikely, and when his political career comes to a hasty end it will be found that it was the great moment of his life when, disguised in the respectable uniform of a policeman, he lied before the foolish mob which thought it worth while to silence his traitorous speech. This was in the days when Lloyd George had not become a victim of the "bacillus patriotico- coccus." The change wrought by this little germ in Lloyd George is evidenced not only in his actions, but in his numerous speeches, of which there are a superfluity, because he was noted as the Cabinet Minister who had made most speeches during his career. To show the sanity of Lloyd George's speeches on behalf of progress, I will quote only from one of his speeches, which is well known to posterity as the Limehouse speech, which he delivered in his celebrated Budget days, before he fell a victim to the patriotic germ: — We sent the hat round. We sent it am- ongst the workmen. They all brought in their coppers. We went round Belgravia, but there has been such a howl ever since that it has completely deafened us. They say: "It is not so much the Dreadnoughts we object to, it is the pensioas." If they object to pensions, why did they promise them? Deception is always a contemptible vice, but to deceive the poor is the meanest of all crimes. (Cheers.) It is rather a shame for a rich country lfke ours-probably the richest coun- try in the world, if not the richest the world has ever seen-that it should allow these who have toiled all their days to end in pen- ury and possibly starvation. (Hear, hear.) It I is rather hard that an old workman should have to find his way to the gates of the I tomb, bleeding and footsore, through the brambles and thorns of poverty. Cheers.) There are many in the country blessed by Providence with great wealth, and if there are amongst them men who grudge out ot their riehes a fair contribution towards the less fortimate of their fellow-countrymen, I they are shabbv rich men. (Cheers.) Then later in the speecn, in dealing with un- earned increment taxes, he says — There was a case at Greenock the other day. Here was an opportunity for patriotism. (Laughter.) These are the men who want an efficient Navy to protect our shores, and the Admiralty state that one element in efficiency is straight shooting, and say We want a range for practice for torpedoes on the West- of Soot-land I There was a piece of land there. It was rated at something like Zll 12s. a year. They went to the landlord, and it was sold to the nation for £ 27,225. And these are the gentlemen who accuse me of robbery and spoliation! (Cheers.) What is the landlord's increment P Who is the land- lord? The landlord is a gentleman—I have not a word to say about him in his personal capacity—who does not earn his wealth. (Cheers.) He does not take the trouble to receive his wealth. He has a host of agents and clerks that receive it for him. He never sees it until he comes to enjoy it. His sole function, his chief pride is stately consump- tion of wealth produced by others. (Loud cheers. ) Now, unless I am wearying you—(loud cries of "No, No!")—I have got just one other land tax. and that is a tax on royalties. The landlords are receiving eight millions a year by way of royalties. What for? They never deposited the coal there. (Laughter.) Who laid the foundations of the mountain there? Was it the landlord? And yet he by some Divine right, demands—for merely the right for men to risk their lives in hew- ing the rocks—8 millions a year. (Shame.) The above is typical of the vigorous and sane speeches from the viewpoint of progress de- livered by the great Welsh hero prior to his infection by the "bacillus patrioticococcus," and contrasts terribly with the following ex- tracts which I have culled from a volume of his speeches, entitled "Through Terror to Tri- umph," contaning his most notable utterances as Chancellor of the Exchequer and latterly as Minister of Munitions during the great Europe- an War, when he was lauded by all the capita- list press as the most patriotic member of the Cabinet, a whole hogger even on industrial conscription as well as military conscription as his celebrated Munitions Act shows: — It is a great wrench for those who, during the whole of their lives, have been fighting against militarism, to be driven by the ir- resistible forces of conscience to support a war. I have addressed scores and hundreds of meetings against war and policies that provoke war. I recollect a meeting which I addressed in opposition to a war, but it was not such a peaceable meeting as this. There are men who maintain that war is not justifiable under any conditions. If your country is invaded and threatened with op- pressioll; if you had a second William the Conqueror landing on this island, destroying the Constitution, imposing his own language, his own laws, and his own ride upon this country, ravaging and destroying as he has done in Belgium—there are men who carry their doctrine so far as to say even under these conditions, you ought not to use a deadly weapon to defend yourself or your country. I have great respect for them, but 1 am afraid that I shall never be able to at- tain in this world to that altitude of ideal- ism. But we have been assailed by another na- tional exponent of the higher culture—Tur- key. We did our best to avoid the quarrel but I cannot pretend that I am sorry this has happened. It filled us with disdain and scorn that we should have to endure eveu for a day the insults of the Turk. But the quarrel has been taken out of our hands. We were in the hands of Fate, and the hour has struck on the clock of destiny for settling accounts with the Turk. What hav-ø the Turks ever contributed either to culture, to art, or to any aspect of human progress that you can think of? They are a human cancer, a creeping agony in the flesh of the lands which they mis-govern, rotting every fibre of life. The people he has sub- jected to his rule have for venturies been the victims of his indolence, incompetence and lust, and now, now the great day of reckon- ing has come upon the nations—I am glad that the Turk is to be called to a final ac- count for his long record of infamy against humanity. In the day when we were wining the battles of religious freedom in this country, there were shirkers, but their cowardice did not save them from the tomb. It is appointed that man should die once, and after that the judgment. It is appoint- ed that cowards shall die. but after that the Judgment. They fall into the unhonoured grave of men who have never given up any- thing which is precious to them, to their country, their religion or their kind. After that the Judgment! The above are extracts from a speech de- livered by Lloyd George at the City Temple in November, 1914. The Doctor comments on the above as fol- lows For its mysticism and religious flavour and its allusions to the hand of destiny one might have believed that the former pastor of City Temple (R. J. Campbell) had delivered it. I shall continue next week to exhaust Dr. Home's extracts from the patriotic speeches of Britain's voluble Munition Minister. ABRACADRABRA.

   I T: d U. t 'I i ra e OIOOIS .8 I are T aware that, at th.i. s 1  You are aware that, at this | 1 period of the year, your Fed- I Is erations and Lodges have a good | j deal of Printing Work to give I I out, and we would ask you to i i KEEP IN MIND I I The fact that every Penny of I ) Profit made in our Jobbing De- I Ipartment goes towards helping to I strengthen the PIONEER." J I The Paper that is run by your j ) Fellow Unionists in your Interests. i 1 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 s I broader duties as Trades Unionists. I i.u 08 It .i EVERY PRINTING ORDER giver to the Pioneer Press means more Ammunition for Party Propaganda. Get into the Line of our MUNITION WORKERS.