Pioneer

Tonyrefail Notes. G!ee Society. Our speculation a.s to the motives of the Glee Society is now justified beyond doubt. It seems that the motive is. not so much as to entertain the wounded soldiers as to oust out of their "nidst "undesirable company." It is a pity that our unfortunate brothers the wounded soldiers are made the channels to express indirectly per- sonal feelings of animosity. The corruption of the best is the worst; beneficence changed to malignity, it is not sufficient for the above so- ciety to go such a long way round to express and convey their inimical feelings, but they must, whilst asserting their own right-whick no one desires to deny them—they deny the light to others even to think. What a presump- tion on the part of others, "for them to think that they could sing and entertain (with- out aa armlet) wounded soldiers with a real spirit of comradeship." for the Good Samaritan to even presume to administer to any others than the Jew is preposterous. They might sug- gest their valuable; precept to the Soldiers' Entertaining Committee to sell tickets only to those who wear armlets. One is apt to ask why are they lie-re at all to entertain the wounded :ioldwrs"( Being so patriotic, on their own as- sertion. one would naturally think that they would not take the trouble to get armlets, but, would be directly involved in a-ction with the brave Tommies. But, instead, we find these indispensibles, who with reluctance have offered, their services conditionally, and at the same time do all they can to keep themselves from servng directly in thp war; the war which, they pretend so enthusiastically to support, staying at home in comfort singing praises and toning others to gs. We have heard of others of the same calibre who are enthusiastis to do their bit, the bit which materialises in sending a few packets of cigarettes, and is used to protect and keep back their own kith and kin. Such, we would suggest, are the persons who offer insult to the brave Tommies. We believe in free thought and honest speech. In. the war of ideas there is neither treaty nor truce. We ask for no quarter because it is treachery to truth. We believe that we can help and entertain wounded soldiers in the true spirit of comradeship. If anyone is en- titled to comfort and entertain the wounded, it is those that do their best to -prevent and put an end to such a enme against humanity. Peace has been the one common and heart- rendering desire and expression of the boys that have been home from the front. It is obvi- ous that if they were cnceuraged to give vent —they do desire nothing better and greater than to stop the war. But instead of consider- ing their true and natural feelings, such ill- considerate persons continue to tune them to feeling alien to their true nature. Our great- est, desire is in the interest of our wounded comrades. Roll on, Peace! The Cymmrodorion Society, On Wednesday evening, the 15th inst.. the I above society celebrated the last meeting of the series for the winter. All members and also manv outsiders were entertained to a tea prepared for the occasion. A very interesting miscellaneous programme was proceeded with afterwards. The chair was taken by Mr. Tom Roberts. SOIlos were rendered by the follow- ing singers:—Messrs. David Giles, Selwyn Mor- gan rind John Giles. A few selections were also given by the children's choir, which has been trained to a high degree of efficiency in a short time by Mr J. H. Richairds. Sometimes the boys sang on their own, and also the girls were grouped together. A few of the members also competed in making impromptu speeches on a subjeot given at the time. A vote of thanks to all who had prepa-red the tea. and to the chairman was moved by Mr. Lewis James, and seconded by Mr D. T. Jones. We may say that the session just ended has been a brilliant and highly successful one in every way. Soldiers Entertained. Five members of the it.A.O.B, who are sold- iers, and home on furlough, were generously presented with gifts at a presentation meeting held at the Coed Ely Hotel on the 14th inst., under the auspices of tlie R.A.O.B. A musical programme was provided, and an enjoyable even ing was spent. District Council The District Council are beginning to realise their folly. with regard to their action towards workmen in their employ. They have reduced their working staff to such an extent that they find to their surprise, that the necessary work cannot he done without the workmen whom they have enforced elsewhere. Now they go about begging of them to return with an offer of an increase in wages and a hint to those that come under the Military Service Act that they shall be starred. We would suggest that they reinstated the aged workmen they have dismissed and leave alone those who have been able to find useful employment elsewhere. If the present councillors are left much longer to govern local affairs, we shall soon be reduc- ed to a primitive savage condition.

More Cowards' Castle, i ATTESTED MEN STILL OUT FOR CONSCRIPTION. The attested married men of Merthyr—and it is interesting to note that the Borough con-! tains 2,902 of such—held a further meeting at t' e Drill Hall om Tuesday evening. when a lengthy petition, embodying their grievances, was approved of before being signed by as many as possible, and forwarded to Mr, As- quith and the Government. The meeting was largely attended, and to gain admission it was necessary to produce cre- dentials at the door. Letters ot apology for absence were receiv- (leI from Messrs. Edgar Jones and C. B. i Stanton, the two Members for the Borough and from Messrs. Artemus Jones and A. C. Fox-Davies the prospective Liberal and Con- servative candidates respectively. At the outset of the meeting, the Chairman (Mr. W. T. Jones) referred to "a paragraph in a certain weekly local paper. (A voice: "The PIONEER.") 1 always understood/' he said, in the little 1 have ever had to do with public affairs, that journalism consisted of fair comment and fair criticism, but I have yet to learn that vulgar abuse is in any way coming up to that idea. As far as the little reference to myself is concerned, I don't mind that at all, but I must certainly, on your behalf, take a little exception to the headline in the paper. and also the placards distributed around the town. That was A Cowards' Castle." I don't know much about cowardice myself, but I should like to know which was the most cowardly place last week: our little meeting in the Lesser Drill Hall, or the corridors of the Town Han. yesterday- week, when you came a-cross 40 or 50 men going up with consciences manufactured at a mock tribunal at a little place round in Market Square P There was an open letter under the na.me of "Thomas Thomas. J I have not the slightest idea who he is. and what is more, I don't care whoever wrote the article. I should certainly say that the article itself must have been a very nice reflection of the character of the person who wrote it. I can best describe it in words that he used himself: that it was £ bestial in the extreme.' I only h.-pe that all married attested men present here—and I believe yon are all married attested men to-night—will take no notice of cheap sneers of that description in a paper that must, I believe, hold a very .insignihcant posi- li'lust, I b,el t 'eve, liold a o r y ?iiisi g ni f ?canb posl must,i_ n the world of journalism to-day." The Chairman said it was a great admission for Lord Derby to make in the House of Lords last week that the pledge to married men had not been carried out as he meant it to be —in the spirit as well as in the letter. He felt sorry Lord Derby had been made the tool and catspaw by which an attempt had been made to avoid that pledge. He appealed to the at- tested married men to be patriotic and fulfil their part, as the Germans would not wait. But why did the Government wit so long before starting to rouse single men? If the married men had not started their agitation they would have found a Proclamation, on the hoardings to-day calling up the next nine groups of mar- ried men. There were hundreds and thousands of single men hiding away in different factories ann work s and reserved occupations. The Government was commencing to wobble, and he thought that if it were only for the fact that they had caused the Government to make a whip round for the single men then married! men had done a tremendous amount of good to I' the country. Be knew of nothing which could stop the first eight groups of married men bemgcalled up unless it was the return of Mr. Thomas Gibson Bowles for Market Hai- borough. He did not think that any married attested men should be asked to give up their homes and businesses until every single man had been rounded up. He could not under- stand how conscientious objectors—so far as this town was concerned—only emanated from one particular party. There was no greater admirer than himself of the married man who had already joined the F or COB. Most of the married men to-day, however, were of the middle class, and were possibly used to a little better social positions—men who had businesses by which they earned a very substantial in- come. He would Ilave to reduce his home and circumstances to comply with the separation al- lowance. It was a very serious position, and the Government should, bv some sch eme. lieve the attested married men of these respon- sibilities. Some form of Compulsion should have been introduced three months after the war started—-(hear, hear)--and the Government should have prevented engineers and skilled workers from going to the trenches. He had no doubt that the attested married men would be sbi-ictlv faithful to the oath they had taken. He appealed for them to agitate, and to supply the names and addresses of anyone whom they thought was evading military service. and they would see that these names were brought prominently before the authorities. (Applause.) The petition which he submitted to the meet- ing embodied, the resolution passed at the pre- vious meeting, the main issues being: (1) Single men first; (2) financial assistance for the mar- ried men and (3) compulsion for all fit men. 1 Mr, D. R. Prosser, who seconded the adop- tion of the petition, affirmed that the married attested men were not cowards. Some of them had brothers and sons serving their country, and some had lost their kith and kin in the war Mr Callister also spoke, and the petition was unanimously adopted. I The meeting terminated with the singing of the National Anthem.

gmr KELP THOSE WHO HELP .1 YOUR PAPER!

I At Random. A certain man drew a bow at a venture." 1 By W. H. EVANS. J 1 When Kool'ili was asked in 1788 what the- people should eat, he fiercely replied, Let the people cat grass." In 1789. a sansculottic mob hwng him on a lantern, and afterwards' carried his head on a pike—the mouth stuffed, with grass. Tims did a long-suffering people re- venge themselves. In the whirlgig of time one never knows what will happen. To-day the classes rule; they oppress the people they deceive and trick them, regarding them as" so much cannon fodder; a means fr extracting., wealth. They condemn the people, looking' down upon them as an inferior class of beings- w ho must be kept in place. And the people- are long suffering. Like sheep they are driven- to the shambles. Theirs not to reason why, theirs hut to-do and die." .For what? That ca- pitalists may pile up huge profits, that politioi- ians may waste millions, and wrangle over ex- pediencies. Let the people eat grass." Metaphorically speaking they are eating grass And very indigestible they are finding, it. The politicians have hroken pledge after pledge, and the people are being yoked to the gunv carriage of m ilitarism and bidden to pull- it. They are to be aill soldiers. I presume that very few believe that the powers that be will be content with the present restricted form of Conscription. The passing of the Military Service (No. 2) Bill indicates the mind and temper of the military caste in this country. Moreover, they are wise enough to see what is looming up on the horizon. They know that the war will not last for ever, and that wit-It its cessation there will be strife in the domestic- affairs of the nation. They wish to be able to" deal effectively with this. And OonscriptioO/ will be the one weapon that will help them to* do so. They are acting on the assumption- that tl.e people are slavish enough to do as- they are bid That with a. large army on their side and under their control, they wilt be in a position to manage the situation. Of course, there is always the possibility that they may not have the army under their sole contro l. The type of man entering the army to-day is quite different from the type of man in the past. For one thing he is better educ.v fed. And he is liable to ask awkward qlles-c tious He will some. dav demand an answer to the questions that he will ask. He will c?iestion the right of those who are now in an" <-?f)-) !t?- (?'?- him to order him ?n shoot diwn his fellow workman. And in th:Ü dav he will find a means of effectively retorting nnon those- who may he inclined t-ofollo)ii- Foulon's advice- and let them see that grass is as edible for* others is it is for the workers. T-T may bar"- hts masters unnn Ion tern's, feeline: that he has hM'l cnoindi of shams and humbne-s. allfl that he objects to being robbed any more. The shortsightedness of the militarists io seen in their endeavours to force into the ar- my men who have a cons ci-eiit io us obiecillwIL agamst warfare. One thing i§ certaiij, that he will not succeed altogether, out if he does, he will have done for us a very effective bit oi propaganda. You cannot stop a man train thinking, i ou cannot stop a ma.WL from ex- pressing his thoughts. And men who -at-& forced into the army against their will A-i,i tbe, a source of weakness to it. They will natur- ally try to imbue others with their own ideas- Will show that the soldier has no real quarrel with his fellow worker, that their aspirations, their struggles, their wants, are the same. And in that dawning understanding there may be accomplished much. The sneer, Let the" peo- ple eat grass/' may have a tragic reversal. Revolutions are the natural result of injust- ice. You never hear oi them where people are- happy. Misery is the forcing ground of such. The class oppression which the people suffer is what engenders them. They are the catastro- phic phenomena of social life; something akïn. to earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions in the natural world. They make for health; for the establishing or the necessary equilibrium. They are unpleasant while they last, are accompaSi- ied by pain, but are necessary in certain condi- tions of society. No one wishes such manifes- tations no one is anxious that such should take place, but where the people are oppressed and treated unjustly, they are a natural resiilt- The Socialist, seeing this, endeavours to ereate the necessary public opinion that will render such painful means of progress unnecessary. But the militarist class are short sighted ift some respects, and hopes that the force which they believe in will solve the problem foi, theill. 10 me they are like a number of people sitting on a barrel of gunpowder and trying to keep someone from. putting a light to it. Some day the fire will reach it, and then all the wait and see doctrines will be blown sky high, and perhaps their de-votees with it. Evan now we may discern certain signs of the incipient sta- ges of revolution. For revolutions are not sud- den developments they are spread over a per- iod of years; and we eat-i note now the be- ginnings now of that red dawn, which, while it causes one to shudder, also fills one with hope. Of course, there is, as already intimated, a better way. It is only our blindness, our stu- pidity which lead s to such. We have the power to end injustice and wfona now. But we do not use it. We are misled; hypnotised itv the suggestions of a class. I said last week, The power of the law lies in the suoject's obedience thereto." One does not require to think very deeply to see the logic of that statement The conscientious objector, I am sure, win readily perceive it; and, perceiving it, will know what NOT to do. He knows; and knowing, will act accordingly, and set the junkers wondtering- what sort of power conscience is. Aye! what IS it—this conscience. P. Something that lies deep in the soul, that tells one when his conduct does not square with his consciousness of right. And to outrage that is to outrage the most sacred and cherished principles o.f human conduct- And he who to-day sinks his conscience fro'l^- fetir of consequences is a craven, and not wor- thy the name of man, or a. place in the coif ing days of peace. But they will not fail; i&ef are strong and unyielding, and will flinch no*- So we hope, and Jook forward, believing tha the dawn will come, and with it the fairer- day which we have longed for with intend0" yearning. Hail to the coming revolution

TO-MORROW MAY BE TOO LATE, I Get a Box TO-DAY! Robert Erles, of Weybridgc, writes:—"After I had ti,ke f' the second two I felt better than I had done for over ft"1. years. The pain in my back had entirely gone." Mrs. Kitlggl, Runwell Road, Wickford, states:—"Your pills cured me years of pain." Sufferers from Gravel, Lumbago, Pains int Back, Dropsy, Bright's Disease of the Kidneys, etc., Sciatica Rheumatism, and Gout, will find a positive cure in Holdroyd s Gravel Pills. I-s. 3d., all chemists: post free 14 %tarni)s- HOLDROYD'S Medical Hall. Cleckheaton J Printed and Published by the Labour Pio ^a FMss. Limited. Willi anis' SQuare, GléeettD Street, Merthyr Tydfil, March 35, 1918.