Pioneer

Maesteg Notes. Intelligent" Discrimination. W hen a t'inance Uommittee was recently ap- pointed by the Maesteg Library Committee, it was desired that the parsons on this c-ommitttee should be intellectual men. The second name on the list was that of an I.L.Per. Considering that the Library Committe.e is composed mostly of reactionaries, it is surprising to believe that they should admit in this manner that the I.L.P. possesses ''intelligent" men. When selecting new books one copy of Mr. Gerard's Four Years in Germany" was, in the opinion of the said reactionaries, not enough in each Library, they wanted two or three, whereas of Mr. E. Morel's latest book. one cow was too much. The Difference. The Maesteg Trades and Labour Council is surely an influential body. They pointed out to the Urban District Council that they were en- titled to a representative on the Local Food Committee, and even selected their representa- tive—" nothing doing." The local Butcher's Association did the same—result, a butcher ap- pointed. Trades and Labour Council, Maesteg Trades and Labour Council held their usual meeting at the Co-operative Lecture Hall on Wednesday last, when Mr. Meth Jones, poli- tical organiser attended and reported amongst other things upon the rent case referred to him to investigate at St. Bride's Major; of the evic- tion and boycott of a soldier's wife at Bridgend, reported in the columns of the Pioneer about I two months' ago. The case is well in hand and developments should be watched for in the "Pioneer." i It was also decided id call a conference of Trades Councils' L.R.CVs, Socialist Societies, Women's Labour Leagues, Co-operative Women's Guilds, and all Labour and Democratic bodies within the new division known as the Ogmore Division. The conference will be held at Brid- gend on Saturday, November 24th next, at 6.30 p.m., and Mr. Meth Jones has promised to make the necessary arrangements when a paper upon Food Control will be delivered and a discus- sion will follow. The Rebel Spirit Spreads at Maesteg. On .Friday. October 12th, the Life Assurance Agents of Maesteg and District held a meeting at the Co-operative Lecture Hall, Maesteg, with a view to forming a Trade Union for all such agents. Mr. Evan Williams (Mr. Hartshorn's Secretary) was the speaker, and spoke very pointedly about the snobbish attitude of that class of workers who had all along thought them- selves above Trades Unionism, and who took offence at being termed workers. He was glad to see that the scales that had so long blinded them were now falling off their eyes, and that they were, at any rate in Maesteg, beginning to see and realise their economic position. It was resolved to form a Trade Union, and things are promising and arrangements are going on %cll, so I am informed. Also at the Sawyers Arms Hotel, Maesteg, on Saturday, October 13th, the Clerks' and Colliery Officials' Trade Union of South Wales and Mon- mouthshire, which I am told was started at Maesteg, held a meeting, when Councillor John Evans (Nantyffyllon, secretary Coegnant Lodge, S.W.M.F.) addressed the meeting and advised them to co-operate or amalgamate with the S.W.M.F. This, I understand, is their ultimate object.

Bedlinog Notes., Prowle's Visit. On Friday, at Gosen Hall, a lecture was de- livered hy Guardian Prowle, of Aberdare, on "Rating of Collieries." In the course of his lecture Mr. Prowle dealt with the present anom- alies of rating in the coalfield, pointing out the need of establishing a more equitable basis. The coalowners adopted every measure to shirk their fair share of the burden of rates. The wealth of these valleys left our shores day after day, while very little was left to meet the needs of local Government.

Tonyrefail Notes. Fatal Accident. I r 1 it is with regret that we have to report tne death of the son of Mr. Jas. Allan, an old resi- dent in Gilfach Goch. The boy, who has been employed after school hours by a local grocer, was driving to the station for goods when lie fell from the vehicle and fractured his skull, sustain- ing injuries from which he succumbed imme- diately. A verdict of Accidental death was returned at the inquest. Much sympathy is ex- pressed with the family in their great trial. Mr. Allan, who was recently discharged from the Allan, w l i.f) was recent l army suffering from the effects of gas-poisoning, is unable to follow his employment, and there is a large family.

Mid-Rhondda Notes. Industrial Unrest, A great deal of unrest is prevalent amongst the miners of Mid-Rhondda, and one would be hardfy surprised if the unrest broke out into vio- lent hostility. The causes of unrest should be obvious to all, and no one should go out of his way to fix the blame on some imaginary" fer- ment." The ferment is not supplied by any Socialist propaganda. The ferment is the greed of the capitalists to exploit and tyrannise the workers. The unreasonable high prices of the necessities of life are quite enough of a ferment to cause a revolution any time. Tom Mann. At a public meeting in which lorn Mann gavt a very interesting lecture on Economic Emanci- pation, a resolution was passed urging the Food Control Committee to take drastic actions to stop profiteering. The lecturer gave striking il- lustrations of how the profiteers are still allowed to exploit the worker- and how large consign- ments of the food-stuffs are allowed to be wasted while the people have to live in a semi-starvation state. When will the Trade Union and the La- bour Movement wake up and do something he- sides passing resolutions? The workers have been conscripted body and soul. Why do we allow the Government to leave the foodstuffs in the hands of the profiteers? Does any one believe that we shall have any improvement when we allow these people to control our food ? All forms of controlling which are not done by the workers themselves cannot benefit the workers.

HAVE YOU PAIIY ? J. Swift, Attercliffe, Sheffield, says The first dose :gave me great reiief. I can confidently say that one box of thaae pills has done me more good than an the medicine I have taken." Mrs. A. Wilkinson, of Nelson, states: "My sister, who suffered from weak kidneys, took one box, and it has done her more good than pounds spent on medical men." HOLDROYD'S GRAVEL PILLS, a positive cure for Grave.1, Pains in the Back, Dropsy, Bright's Disease of tha Kidneys, Gout, Sciatica; 's. 3d., all chemists; post free 14 stensps.— HOLDROYD'S MEDTCAL HALL, Cleckheaion.

Steelworkers' Strike. REVIEW OF THE DOWLAIS DISPUTE. A VICTORY FOR LABOUR. On Monday, the 15th of October, tl19 Dowlais strike commenced. The washery department, which had grievances at the Offices for a con- siderable time, decided that a strike, and a strike alone, would bring attention to the stata of affairs. Let it be understood that the griev- ances had been submitted to the Ministry of Labour after failing to come to any agreement with the employers on the points in dispute. The Ministry of Labour referred the whole mat- ter to the Committee on Production. The Com- mittee on Production then communicated with I Mr. Evan James, the Organising Secretary of, the Workers' Union, suggesting the 17th of October as the date upon which they were pre- pared to hear the cases in London. Mr. James immediately replied stating that he would not come to London to have these cases arbitrated upon, but would agree to an arbitrator to come down and have them heard locally. In reply, the Comnutwe eonfirmedtheir previous decision. Mr. James would not agree to this, and there- fore the Committee on Production cancelled the date. Therein lies the whole explanation of the dispute. The arbitrator not having been sent down, the washery decided at a meeting held by that department, that the Government De- partments wei?q like the' mountains and nothing but a shar? reiteration of the men's demands in the form of a strike would inspire those Depart ments with a sudden spasm of enthusiasm for I the prosecution of the war. Hear from Thomas Carlyle: "Good heavens, will not one French Revolution and Reign of Terror suffice us, but must there be two ? There will be two if needed, there will be twenty if needed; there will be precisely as many as are needed." That was exactly the position when the above department was practically goaded into a Reign of Terror. The spark soon became a blaze, the blaze a huge conflagration. The erectors and twelve-hour men generally, called a meeting the following night and unanimously decided that the washery case was their case, that their grievances would not be rectified until some drastic course was taken and a strike was the' only power on the earth, and under the earth which would move the Government officials. The following morning the locomotive depart- ment decided to down tools. When the arteries of the body politic fail, the body dies. When the locomotive men decided on a strike the indus- trial body gave one convulsive kick and tlieia collapsed. What else could it do? Capitalism may boast of what it has done for the world, and may ask what would the world do without it, but here was a case which is typical of the relations between Capital and Labour the wide world over, in which our God, forgetting cante and Dead-Sea apisms and epicurisms, fell to the ground, and Capital and Labour faced each other as they are, and Capital floundered. Unfortunately, Mr. James was away in Lon- don at the time. when the whole of the men at the Works came out, but nevertheless, the men decided that they would conduct the strike themselves until his return. The local Commit- tee of the Workers' Union took the case in hand, and to the officials of that committee and the Union's Executive Member, Mr. Dan Evans, must be given a large share of the credit of car- rying on the strike in a constitutional manner, and for leading with that clear-sightedness which is the real essence of true leadership. On Thursday morning, Mr. Simpson, the chief investigation officer of the Ministry of Munitions Department at Cardiff, addressed the men. He told them that he had come there that morning in a fighting humour, the men assured him that they were in a fighting humour also, and before the meeting ended they had proved it. They de- monstrated to him that 'there are men in the in- dustrial world who can think, and that they were afraid of no Jotuns, tailor-gods and representa- tives of the Government with their double- barrelled laws and Morrison's Pills. And before the end of that meeting Mr. Simpson was im- pressed by what he heard and stated that one thing above all others lie was struck with The members of the Workers' Union fought hard and gave him the time of his life, but they had fought a fair fight. He could not save the Gov- ernment Departments. Their procrastination was palpable to all. Mr. Evan James had done all in his power, and the members of the Union had done their bit. The quiet march had de- veloped into a battle, for life is but a battle and a march. The upshot of the meeting was that Mr. Simp- son was to send a wire to his" chief" in Lon- don, asking him when an arbitrator would be down. No reply had been received that night from Mr. Simpson's "chief," but two telegrams were received from General Offioers of the Union in London to the effect that an arbitrator would bo. sent down, and advising the men to return to work. No place being available that evening for a meeting of the whole of the men, it was de- cided to call a mass meeting for the following morning at the Cinema. After the telegrams had been read to the meeting, it was decided to resume work on the promise that an. arbitrator would be sent down. Mr. Simpson promised to do all in his power to have the arbitrator down by Thursday, October 25th. So far as the Workers' Union were concerned that was the end of the strike, but complications had by now arisen, and other Unions were involved. They I had grievances which were to be rectified. Mr. Simpson spoke to them, but for some time no agreement could be arrived at. We must confess that if Mr. Simpson spoke to the members of those Unions as he spoke to the members of the Workers' Union, it would remind them of Dr. Guillotine's fatherly a dvice to the French rulers," when recommending- his instrument to them for the benefit of Franco: "With my machine, messieurs, I whisk off your head in a twinkling, and you have no pain. It is comforting to know there would be no pain." The Bhustfurnacemen had decided their course of action by Tuesday of this week. The chief difficulty with them was, the non-un ion question. That being satisfactor- ily settled, the men decided to return to work on Thursday. Thus began and ended the Dow- lais strike. The men must be congratulated for the manner in which they conducted themselves throughout. It was a compliment to themselves and to trade unionism, it was the supreme ex- pression of what is commonly called the dignity of Labour. Thus begins a fresh epoch in the in- dustrial life of Dowlais. We trust that it will be a change for the better. The future policy is in the hands of the arbitrator. Whatever he decides may begjn or end the bickerings and the strife. Meanwhile, we congratulate the Dowlais men on their signal victory. They have ad- vanced a step further towards the dawn. J.W.

PLEASE MENTION THE PIONEER I WHEN ANSWERING ADVERTS. ) < s IVomen Workers' Ser-ies-Ne. 1. Mm' ? ri only when you are working hard, as B j? I am, *that you know what a cup of H H Rowntree's for supper really means. It seems H Bj to put back the strength into you and it H ? freshens you up wonderfully. It doesn't H ■ matter how hard you work, Rowntree's Cocoa will help you through. JJ CL cap cf |j I A cwnti&& I Di! tèœa 8H» ?  <&dHa6?j8?c "¡ m TlKUBrD. ,fIfIiII.NJ

Gorseinon Notes. The Band. We hear good reports of the progress* of this I band of music lovers, in spite of tho fact that three of their members have been forcibly with- drawn from its membership. It is well, maybe, that each one of us is not absolutely indispen- sable, and that substitutes can be found to fill up the depleted ranks. The members practice assiduously for the coming contest at Briton Ferry, where we wish them better luck even than they had at the last contest. Military Authorities and Geography of Wales. I It might be for our common good for the authorities to revise their geography of Wales. One of our C.O.'s, Tom Evans, was released on Wednesday from Wormwood Scrubbs, to take up Home Office Work. He was ordered, on his de- parture, to report himself at Llanelly—as soon as he had reached Llanddeusant Camp—-a matter of 35 miles. We would like to see some of the authorities waiting at stations, or pushing their cars tliro-Li--h mud-knee, deep. We have had some! However, Tom Evans knew what he was about, and brought two others with him. They reported first at Llanelly, where no provision had been made for their detention. Tom Evans looked better than ever, and any fears concerning his well-being have been put to' rest. One of the C.O.s who1 accompanied him was a Canadian farmer, who had Jbeen arrested as an absentee from the Army while visiting his mother at Burton on Trent. Please bear in mind that this arrest took place in freedom-loving England, whose inhabitants are so very much concerned about the liberty of any other nation but their own. My word! what capital our local half- penny sensation producers would make of the fact were this atrocity perpetrated in another unmentionable country. The I.L.P. I A record meeting took place at the Institute on Tuesday when the members discussed a long and important agenda. Absentee members are earnestly requested to put in an appearance, for an excellent paper is to be read each Tuesday evening at 7.30 p.m. It is not sufficient that we are awake-we must be up and doing, getting ready for the great changes about to take place. The Jingoes are already afraid—and we have been merely talking as yet. Coino to ahow that we can act as well as talk. 8 War Aims Meeting. r A correspondent writes — This great meeting did come off afted. a.ll, in Penuel, Loughor, instead of at Moriah, as had been announced. The good people of Moriah must have felt more than glad at their decision, for it would have been out of place, to say the least, to hear such sentiments as we were forced to listen to, expressed from the very spot where Mr. Evan Roberts addressed the congregation with such good effect, some years ago. I doubt whether the worshippers of Penuel are pleased with the utterances of the speakers. Within the walls, where such senti- ments as Thou shalt not kill and Love your enemies must have been taught to hundreds of people, we heard proposed the killing of every German. Our chairnlan was so desirous of fair-play that he offered his services to the opposition ,to pre- side at any peace meeting, which offer waa ac- cepted and will be remembered. The speakers were Mr. Jeremiah Williams and Mr. C. B. Stanton. The former got a good' hearing until he began to mentiora certain persons. Then he got what he had asked for. His speech was made up mainly of perverted his- torical fa,et-a categoi.-v of the misdeeds of Ger- many..From his dMoription an alliance with that unfortunate nation would bo the last thing desired by the politicians of this country. Yet it was just", fluke which prevented our making her our ally in Chamberlain's time. Muck capital was mad e of the breaking of the treaty— scrap of paper business—and the subsequent 111 vading of Belgium, *s .if no other country fj j broken treaties and promises just when it s? j? its Government to do so. No mention was  of the breaking of the Treaty of Morocco by tho French for example. No mention was wade 0 the promising of Dalmatia to' Italy, al1dø dividing of Asia Minor among Russia ad France. When questioned both gentlemen i plored the fact that they were not in the diplo- matic service, and could not therefore ansvvor. We begin to wonder what thev really do 0 their £400 a year, plus 5 per cent, waT bon Mr. Stanton's effort was mainlva I'sv??. 11> what he had done, with an additional re<?at of German itrocit?ez, of which we were ql".te aware. In fact, we would have been stirprised- agreeably—if they had not taken place. A5, soon as he began he was reminded of his be- haviour at Cardiff, when organised "patriot of that City broke up a conference. He bla? the people of Sheffield for that bit of hrse-plp; if you please, because they had not given hI the privilege of speaking. You will all be pleased to know that ?" .? Stanton is quite prepared to carry on social form, and the taking' off of the Conscript Act from the Statute Book, etc., etc., after eyel. German has been killed. 0' Almost. at the close of the meet' when most of the high feelings had subsidt?,J gentleman in the body of the building -t'? ?jt ask when the gentlemen were coming to t,,Il?01) War Aims! You may judge from that how *'cr cessfi-il the speakers had been.

Theatre RoyaL The Maid of Cefn Ydfa. falls muc h M "The Maid of Cefn Yd fa falls much J11;elf naturally within the work of the Morton-P? 0f school than did their last week  Ghosts. Excellently as they did Ibsen, ';? imparted just a tinge too much romantisin [11 'bo the ScandinAvian drama, and to some e$cefv marred him here. But in "The Maid of gft? Ydfa —-o f which work they have secure", -cj) Ydfa "—of which work they have secure .?}) excellent dramatisation—they have a work ?< ?? gives free rein to that intense art of ?tt-e? Miss Nina Blake Adams and Mr. ^e°A Sutherland are such able exponents. The JAY' is one that gets hold of the audience froflj It first curtain and never leaves go to the st? ? is a great play and one that all who ?n? within the area that gave the book birth S? 11 see. f oC But nexi "ek is to be our great week?. ?. we are to have Montague Glass' great cla; f stage comedy, Potash &nd P'erlmutter. pP should like to point our that this is tilc.10 ] of the year, and that it comes under o? jfj.- management—but that would be unfair ?]??! Ilea—if it were not Mrs. Hea is the neW u<$ ager. Potash and Pcrimuttell is not o comedy of much laughter and brilliant diO"l? gti but it also ia satire on modern bil?'lle,?5 men, which a Democratic good. 16 it-, fel1 all the great plays and comedies of the st feIV decades, there is & wciál side to the ?, &nd it points our way. org

Mr. T. T. Jenkins. f. f For the first time after his long illness*, j^gf' T.. t the Tj ?er" T. Jenkins? Ahercanmd, was present n^JJ +nrd^' thyr Board of Gu?'dimts' meeting on at L7"-dA.?r, Given ? markedly cordial greeting by hJS ?ll?e members, Mr. Jenkins, replying to sp<??gg ? po<' welcome and .?ood wi?hps by the Recto1" p0 f r- I'Tia (the Rev. LJew, M. Williams) and ',v f0 Fenwick, thanked the board with enl0tl tfyeir persiswnt solicitude. Printed and published by the N t;lonal ^preSS>" PreAs, Ltd., at the Labour PIOneer ]pre$ Williams Square, ertiyi- Tydfil, 7 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27th, 191