Pioneer

Rhondda Valley Trade Unionists I DEMAND FOR HALLS TO BE OPENED ON SUNDAYS. QUESTION POSTPONED A MONTH. I A deputation again appealed before the Rhondda Urban District Council last Friday eevening demanding the opening of the halls on Sunday. The liberty of speech has been denied ? the people of the Rhondda. by a resolution of the Council prohibiting the opening of thea- tres, cinemas, and other public buildings on Sun- day, The deputation consisted of 26 miners' lodges, a few railway men's lodges. Trades and Labour Councils, and the Rliomlda Socialist Society. The Chairman, after consulting with his col- leagues, consented to hearing four of the de- putation, representing the four bodies. Mr. Noah Ablett, Mardy, first, spoke, on behalf of the Rhondda Miners' Lodges, and said that "we are here representing 26 111iners, lodges, the whole of the miners' lodges from Mardy to Porth. and from Porth to Treherbert, j as well as the Rhondda Socialist Society; and. as you have divided us up, we have decided to put the case of the Rhondda Socialist Society as well as the Miners' Lodges. This is a very populous area-one of the most populous areas in the country; and as far as I know, it is the only place where there is a restriction in the opening of halls such as this. It is im- possible to carry on our work as Trade Union- ists without having the halls open on Sundays, because the district is such that it requires the halls opened in order to settle disputes on Sundays to enable the men to work on Monday. I also appeal on behalf of the Rhondda So- cialist Society, because you must admit that we, as Socialists, have a right in a free country like ours to have every reasonable facility to express our views, and invite the people to hear our case. As Britishers, you ought to remove this restriction in order to preserve the right of free speech. Mr Whiting spoke on behalf of the Railway- men. and said that they had an Orphan .Fund to alleviate the sufferings of the orphans, but had very great difficulty in getting a hall to hold their annual concert, the proceeds of which go to this fund, and he asked that the haals be thrown open on Good Friday to en- able them to hold their charity concerts. Mr. D. Jones next spoke for the Cambrian Workmen, and said that he was very sorry to be there among business men as the P..Ti.C., to appeal for ever for the opening of ^he halls. You are despotising Democracy, and what you condemn on the Continent of Eu- rope to-day you carry in action at the Council here. We are only asking you for a very little privilege, and that is. for the use of our own property on Sunday. You know that we have spent thousands of pounds in erecting Workmen's Halls, and when we want to meet on Sundays to discuss Trade Union matters, a few Councillors here object to our using our own property. It is impossible for the work- men to meet on week nights, and we demand that the lialu be thrown open; if we asked for the opening of all the graves in Trealaw Ceme- tery, you would not be more aghast over it. You say this will take away the sanctity of the Sabbath; there is no sanctity of the Sabbath more glorious than fighting for the rights of men. Mr. Matthew Banner, speaking on beahlf of the Maindy and Eastern Workmen, said that! if the men had any grievance they must meet on Sundays, or else stop the wheels and meet on Monday, and, a stoppage at the present! moment would be very undesirable. Coun. Dr. Thomas then asked Mr. Banner: Would you be satisfied if we allowed the halls open on Sunday fer Trade Union purposes only P" Mr. Banner: No; I do not think the Maindy and Eastern Workmen would consent to that; they reserve the right to hold whatever meet- ings they like. A discussion then followed as to whether it would comply with the Council's standing or- ders to let the deputation remain. It was moved by Coun. T. R. Daviess, and seconded by another, that the deputation be allowed to remain." The following motion was then read and meved by Coun. E. Roderick, seconded by Coun. T. Owen: — That any condition imposing a restriction on the use of theatre and cinema buildings on Sunday and Good Friday for any other purpoises than those in respect of which the licence is actually granted, be withdrawn. In moving the motion. Councillor Rode-! rick said that it was impossible to hold any Trade Union lneeetings on any other day but Sunday, and that there are less people in the Churches to-day than there were before the restriction was put on the halls. If you will not øe tolerant the movement will enter upon a new campaign, and if you are not careful they wild retaliate on the Churches, because nearly all of them are assessable. Ooun. T. Owen, in seconding the motion, said: "1 have a mandate. from my constitu- ents to effect the opening of the halls on Sun- day The halls should be open on Sunday to enable the young people to hear lectures, which, I can say from experience, are very entertaining, and much enlightenment can be gained from them." The opposition was so completely overwhelm- ed with the force of argument in favour of the opening of the halls on Sunday, that Coun. Dr. Thomas and the Chairman very meekly protested against the discussion of the motion continuing, because we could get quite as large, if not a larger deputation ag- ainst the opening of the halls on Sunday." Then came the "star turn of the evening. Coun. Horatio Phillips' '(not Horatio the arm chair fighter) denunciation of Socialism. He said: "I am tolerant to people in speaking out their minds, and every man has a right to be a Socialist, every man a Liberal, and ev- ery man a Conservative, and I would support this motion if I could put a limit on it, and that is, Trade Union meetings in special emer- gencies and sacred concerts." He then went on to say that if we allowed tie Socialists to hold public meetings on Sunday, where would! the sanctity of the Sabbath be? The Social- ists who want the halls opened are looking at the wrong side of Socialism; they are the ma- terialists. and do not consider the moral aspect. Councillors Abel Jacobs, Jones (Porth), Mark Harcombe. T. R. Davies, T. Owen, and James James spoke in favour of the motion. After a little discussion, it was decided to adjourn tire question for a month, to enable the other side to be heard.

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I" Patriotism and the Child." By the REV. W. RBES, Llechryd. Among the splendid articles of the PIONEER from week to week, one in last week, and the other in the week before, have appealed to me with a special power, viz. Militarism Break- ing up the Home" (by Philip Frankford), and Patriotism and the Child" (by Emrys Hug- hes). The home is the primal and the most sacred institution of mankind; it is also the cradle of the race, and the first seminary of Heaven. War desecrates and tears asunder this divinest establishment. Children degener- ate in consequence of the degeneration of all the nations in the war. The Christian world and its culture is founded on lies and cruelties, and not on Love and Truth. The Great Father of all Men is transfigiired into a hideous brutal tribal God, and the Gospel of Peace into a poisonous cup. The inventions of science and the discoveries of philosophy are made weapons of destruction. War iSI the ag- gregate of all the horrors and the atrocities of the triple hells. The billows of the abysses roil over the world, and the shades of death hover over every land and Every home has become a gloomy mpnument of lamentation and woe, surrounded and assailed by the watch- fiends of Gehenna. A world of woe expands with pains in every nerve to put at nought the sweet delights of life. Innumerable hearts are rent in twain, and there is no place for pity on the planet, chiefly owing to the petri- fic hardness of priests and preachers, upholding the arms of the lords of slaughter and heedless as brutes of the blood that is shed, and of the groans and tears of parents and children, of widows and orphans, of brothers and sisters, of friends and sweethearts, of saints and sera- phim and above all, of the infinitely tender- hearted Saviour of Sinners. All the sense and sensitiveness of soul is cast out as filth and mire. Alas! the innumerable children that make their appearance under the sway of our infernal Juggernauts! Who now can che- rish and feed these Lambs of the Lord and keep them in the fold? In the name of Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, every child should be taught to shun, dtespise, and scorn the prevalt religion with all its dragon sects and statutes; and they should be diligently taught to disobey the laws of mur- der and compulsion— laws which no child of God can keep, being the laws of death to every energy of man, forbidding the very springs of life. The laws of churches, states and soldi- ers arise with ravening rage from the open sepulchres of satanio cemeteries, full of foul and hidden deceit, and only fit for Tophet and the everlasting burnings of Moloch, to whom thev immolate the young immortals of the world. The young people should be protected by powerful antidotes against the fiery flying serpents of the press. The filthy rags of the chui-che.s-C-atholic, English, Baptist, Con- gregational. Wesloyan. etc.. are full of blood, of lust, and shoutings for the slaughter, and the pooi: labourers are deceived and are leagued with robbers to throw the wide world of the workeers from its hinges, that the mansions of man may be forevor possessed by the monsters of the deep. Those who gave their life to free the labourers and their children are held in abhorrence, and those who devour their wel- fare arc taken into thoir bosom. There is a throne in every man: it is the throne of God; when the labourers become disloyal to this throne of love and justice inside v themselves, their manhood is gone, ahd they and their chil- dren are devoured tfo be enrobed with misery from head to feet. In their misery the capi- talist will pretend pity, and perhaps give alms with pomp and ceremony. Such are the soft mild ants of ciuel love and dark deceit, when the children are brought to cringe before their wealthy benefactors, whose riches and adorn- ments are crimes, horrid to think of in the light of reason—the ruddy fruits of rioting in human gore. Children should be taught to honour man and not money, with its barren glory and vain delusive display. They should also foe trained and ruled by love and tenderness, and by speak- ing to them at times in subdued and reverent tones of God the Father, and of their brother angels in heaven, who are always near them arnd helping them, and delighted with their in- nocent sports and plays. Little children should be gently handled, and led from the cradle into the love and light of their angel friends in the heavens, so that their obedience and knowledge may be soaked with innocence from above. Such children will naturally grow in the Love of God and man, and become useful members of society. But, alas, how contrary is the edu- cation of children as practised by many parents, and as brought up in our khaki schools and churches. The little new comers are soon scolded, called naughty, threatened with the rod, and often whipped cruelly in a bad tem- per. The angels of the little ones, who always see the face ef the Father in heaven, are shocked and struck with horror at such mal- practices. The parents thus extinguish in earliest years the innoeent- tenderness which is infused into the little children and make them saucy, savage, and revengeful even from the womb. Such brutal parents and teachers shut out the children from heaven and the angels, where nothing prevails but innocence, gentle- ness, love, and peace, and kind words uttered in sweet melodious tones. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. An angelic tongue trains a child into everlasting life. whilst a sour a,t iin- life. whilst a sour scolding tongue deals death and damnation. To bring up children to a full manly life. par- ents and teachers must behave themselves like angels. bend down into the state of innocence of wisdom, the true training for the parents and teachers themselves for the life and. the dominion of righteousness. Every child is a new creation, a new human wonder of God. created first in heaven an angel among the angels. From birth to the time when! freedom and reason are fully formed, the whole period of childhood is held in the tender em- brace and caresses of the cherubim of glory, and should be brought up in the tender em- brace and caresses of glorious parents andl teachers as co-workers in the greatest under-1 taHng. Heaven lies around us in our infancy. There was a time when we were little angels, when all men were little angels, clean and holy, open and plastic to the highest heaven and angels dwelt with them and shared their plays and pleasures. There was a time when all men were lovable, clean and holy, open to the inno- cence and the peace of the cherubim. It was w hen fond mgthers, moved by the tender Love of God, pressed them lovingly to their bosoms, and when the angelic virtues were stored away in their seuls. The most depraved have de- posits in a secret stratum that bears the im- print of angels' fingers under the special aus- pices of the Saviour the foundation of family, social, and celestial life. But militarism breaks the ome," uproots the Mial and friendly affeo- tiins, destroys smigi -ba In (I'v? the young to an untimly amF?XI;I-- death, de- prives the children of their birthright, and dooms them to the disastrous patriotism and the cruel "cant education" of the lords and slaves of slaughter in the serpent schools and dragon temples of the land.

Trade Union Notes. By TRADE L'NIOxNIST. In the MenIlyr and Dowiais Districts of Miners the campaign against non-unionists goes merriiv on. I understand that in the Dow- iais district very few of the men are at present outside the Federation. There are a few, how- ever. and, anxious to avoid a stoppage,, they, on Sunday last, agreed to further suspend the notices for one week. By that time it is con- fidently believed all Dowlais colliery workmen will be members of the organisation. In the Merthyr district, also, much progress has been made, all the lodge rooms last Satur- day night being crowded with men anxious to put themselves in compliance. But, unfortu- nately. a sufficient number are still outside to make the situation perilous. To prevent a stoppage next week will require, I am afraid, the co-operation of the employers. The de- putation from the South Wales Executive, who waited upon Mr. Askwith, of the Board of Trade, upon this question of non-unionism, were not able to secure any kind of assurance that the employers would co-operate. The reason, of course, was that the coalowners' representa- tives, who were also invited to London to inter- view Mr. Askwith, were unable to pledge the Coalowners' Association. It was then agreed that they should confer with the Association, and a further joint interview was arranged for Wednesday of this week. It is sincerely to be hoped that a mutual understanding should be arrived at between employers and employed at this interview, in order that there shall not be stoppages In any part of the coalfield on account of non-unionists for the duration of the war, at least. Are we approaching another crisis in the South Wales Coalneld P I am afraid that we are. Up to the present the trouble has not been brought wi-v proniineiitly before the pub- lic. but very soon the country will hear a good deal about it ifnless the coalowners adopt a more conciliatory attitude. The present trouble arises out of the recent agreement, and affects three classes of workmen, viz. (]) the ostlers, who nuin-bei- about, 2,000; (2) the whole after- noon and night shift workmenapd (3) the sur- face craftsmen. Concerning (1) the ostlers work their shift in two parts, four hours in the morning, and four in the afternoon. They demand a bonus turn per week, in the same way as the afternoon and night shift workers, on the ground that they are inconvenienced by this method of working more considerably than if they worked an exclusively afternoon or night shift. There can be no gainsaying that fact, inasmuch as they have to make two journeys to and fro from home to work in each day, and have not t%e privilege of a lengthy period of leisure. They can never go far1 "from home; they must be close at hand in order to go to work again to finish their shift. But the owners, insisting upon the fact that the ostlers are not specifically mentioned in the agreement, are only willing to concede half a turn by way of bonus. Difficulty No. 2 has to do with the Sunday night shift, and affects all afternoon and night workers. The agreement provides that this shall be an 8-hour shift, but the men contend that when the negotiations were going on last July, Mr. Runciman promised that the owners and men should arrange what bonus should be paid when it was worked. The owners demand that it shall be one of eight hours, and no overtime paid. The men. on the other hand, insist that the Sunday night shift shall be con- sidered an overtime shift, and should therefore be one of six hours. Difficulty No. 3 concerns the stii-face, crafts- men, and their new schedule of rates. Under the new agreement the standard rate for surface workmen, is 5/- per day, aiid this brings them to the level of the skilled craftsmen. The latter demand a higher rate. The Craftsmen's Union agreed with the owner's upon a, schedule of rates below the one adopted by the Federation. Nn«;. j all the craftsmen are not in the Craftsmen's Union, many of them are members of the Fede- ration, and naturally the Federation insist upon their own schedule of rates being applied to their members at least. Up to the present the coalowners have refused to concede these points, and the Federation con- sider them to be of so much importance that they cannot afford to give way upon them. There is trouble brewing certainly trouble so serious that it is not too much to say that it may involve a, stoppage throughout the coal- held. has iin. the wol l en A critical situation has arisen in the wollen trade in the Come Valley in consequence of al- leged combined action on the part of manufac- tuieis to refuse to allow workpeople to change their employment. A resolution was passed on Sunday last, at a mass meeting of the men held in Huddersfield, instructing the Executive ,of the General Union of Textile Workers to take what action they think necessary to safeguard the interests of the workers at a conference between the Executive and em- ployers' representatives, which has been arran- ged for this week. The Railway Clerks' Association have suc- ceeded in securing an improved, scale of wa- ges for women clerks employed by the L. & S.W.R. Girls up to and including 18 years of age are to receive 2/- a week advance now, and a further 21 a week each six months until they reach 161-; rising by 2/- per week per annum to 28/- weekly in London and 26/- in the country. Those over 18 years will have their wages raised to 20/- the maxi- mum being 28/- and 26/- for London and the country respectively. The divisions that exist between the work- ers in consequence of the multiplicity of Un- ions catering for their organising is a cause of profound regret. How long are the workers, through their divisions, going to make it easy for the employers to defeat their aims? Just now these divisions are being emphasised and accentuated. We have the N.U.R. and the Amalgamated Society of Locomotive Enginemen and Firemen defying one another, to the de- light of the railway companies; then we have the M.F.G.B. and the Craft Unions at logger- heads—-and so it is in very many of the large industries. And yet perhaps these very diffe- rences that crop up 80 plentifully only indicate that the time is fast approaching when a mere perfect a?d enicMrnt method of organisa- tion will be adopted, Surely intelligent work-I men will not be content to have their inte- rests prejudiced because of bickerings am- ongst thectse?? they will prefer fewer Unions and more unity.

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I Dicky Wallhead at Aberdare. SPELL-BGUNO AUDIENCE'S ENTHUSIASM On Sunday night Mr. It. C. Wallhead de- livered a. powerful address on "The I.L.P. and the War," in which he showed the stupidity and futility of the struggle that is taking place. He warned his hearers against those who are paying lip service to Democracy at the present time, and urged everyone to be on their guard whefci peace is declared. Ho proved conclusively that the' attitude of the I.L.P. was the sanest of political parties, and he in- stanced that imany of the diatribes of pre- sent day statesmen are but a repetition of what statesmen have used in previous wars. He indicated in the clearest possible way that the enemy was at home, and gave as one of the proofs of the enormous surplus value that has and is being reaped by the capitalists since the war began. He kept his audience spellbound for over as hour, and judging from the conti- nued applause that was given him, everyone went away convinced that the attitude taken by the I.L.P. WIIS the right one. There were visitors present from Mountain I Ash and the Rhondda.. Valleys. I Ash and the EJiondda. Valleys. Mr. J. T. Normaii presided.

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