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11 MRS- BRUCE GLASiER AND THE GERMANS. CROMWELL S MODEL ARMY PRESSED MEN. NO UNITED STATES OF EUROPE POSSIBLE WHILE ONE NATION REMAINS MILITARIST. To the Editor of the "Labour Voice." Sir.—I want to make it quite clear that my differences with Mrs. Bruce Glasier rest on matters connected with the war only, and I gladly pay my acknowledgment of the years of un- selfish service she and her husband have given the Labour movement. After the war all parties in the Lab- our movement must work together, and that we shall do if hotheads like Mr Russell Williams in Mrs. Glaeier's camp, and Mr Sexton in mine, can be kept under control. Let me deal first with Mrs. Bruce Glasier's argument that it is no good recognising that mutual aid is the divine law unless we act on the know- ledge. There are so few issues in life that present a choice between absolute right and absolute wrong, and war isn't one of them. Sbe and I believe that the State is as much an enemy of the criminal as the criminal is of the State. We believe that the way to deal with the criminal is to remove the con- ditions that breed the criminal. But suppose that while walking down the Strand at Swansea, Wb saw a group of criminals trying to %urder a police- man. We should put aside for the moment our ideas about the main causes of crime, and go to the aid of the policeman. For the period and the purpose of the crisis our theories (wound enough in themselves) would be useless, and it would be folly to hold a public meeting to propagate our views until after we had rescued the policeman from the criminals' clutches. I do not suggest a parallel between the criminals and policeman on the one hand, and Germany and ourselves on the other. The crisis is my point, and I say that only prompt and vigor- ous action can be effective. If we do not down the Germans, we shall allow the crime of Belgium to go un- punished, we shall leave France, the home of liberal and Socialist ideals, prey to a ruthless enemy, and we shall have conscription (which Mrs. Glasier abhors) fastened on us, not by our militarists, but by our militarists plus the Prussian militarists. Let me take another illustration to enforce my contention that a crisis necessitates the temporary suppression of fundamental principles. "Under no circumstances will I take life" is a maxim of those extreme individualists who call themselves the No Conscrip- tion Fellowship. Suppose a member of the Fellowship were aboard the "Persia" which was torpedoed in the Mediterranean, and that he had the good fortune to be fished out of the sea. into a small boat heavily laden with women and children. Suppose, further, that one additional passenger in the boat would imperil the lives of all aboard. If two or three Lascars, wild with terror, swam up, and tried to clamber in, would the member of the No-Conscription Fellowship knock them on the head with an oar? His maxim would go by the board in any case, for he "would have to take the lives of tho few Lascars, or sacrifice the lives of all the women and hild- ren. Crises do make a material differ- ence to preconceived notions, however well-grounded, and Mrs. Glasier can- not deny it. Mrs. Glasier's reference to Russian militarism is only a debating society point. Our men in the House of Com- mons would gladly accept the aid of Liberals and Tories for a measure to do away with unemployment, although they know that on the morrow they may be fighting them, bitterly on an- other issue. The actual menace of the moment is Prussian militarism: the possible danger of the future is Russian militarism. We have to deal with the former now; we can tackle the latter when it materialises. On the question of British and Prussian militarism, all I have to say i8 that ours is to theirs as a common cold to pneumonia. If Mrs. Glasier challenges this statement, I will readily produce the facts. Mrs. Glasier shows a lack of sense of proportion when she says that "if in the belief that it is possible to cast out evj1 by t-vil, the British people suffer t hemselves to become a con- script ration, we shall soon see every evil thiag in Russia copied here? Whnt Absolute monarchy, and the knout. logril suppression of trade unions, transportation for life of prominent agitators like Mrs. Bruce Glasier, and humble ones like myself? Stuff and nonsense! Not with con- scription fifty times over would our people submit to it. On two occasions in historv when Anglo-Saxon liberty has been at stake, have we submitted to partial con- scription. In my John Richard Green I read that nearly all the infantry in Cromwell's New Model army were pressed men, and we know that Lin- coln crushed slavery with the aid of forced men. After conscription had served its purpose, it was in both cases discarded. Mrs. Bruce Glasier says that if we had a majority of men in Parliament with the will to work for a United States of Europe, "I am certain there would be no war now." I am equally certain there would have been war. If we had five hundred Ramsay Mac- donalds in the House they could not have prevented the war. One Europe- an nation can no more bring about the U.S.E. than one swallow can make a summer. Nay more, if five out, of the six great European Powers were de- sirous of peace, it would be in the power of one, devoted to militarist ideals, to bring about war. We simply could not help ourselves. Possibly after this war a beaten and chastened Germany will help to form a United States of Europe. She cer- tainly will not if she is victorious. It was a war which made the United States of America, and let not Mrs. Glasier forget, a second war was neces- sary to maintain it. I come to what Mrs. Glasier de- scribes as her main suggestion—that the only power that can overcome the II militarism of Germany is the anti- militarism of Germany. I agree, but we alone can create the necessary psychological conditions for the Social Democrats to oust the Junkers. Let the Kaiser march home through the Brandenburg gate a victor, and the Socialists are done for, in the sense of being able to defeat their home enemy. The Prussian victory against the French in 1870 is the main reason (pale Bebel) why the Socialists, with their magnificent party organisation and formidable numbers, have ab- solutely failed to win electoral re;, form. If the Kaiser wins, the majority of the German people will feel eternally indebted to the Junkers for enabling them to withstand "a world of enemies, and no political dynamite yet discovered will blast them out of their secure place in popular esteem. Our boys in the trenches are better workers for peace than the I.L.P. at home. I am not one of those who decry the I.L.P. entirely. In some ways they have done good work, and in others they have done badly. They have made 80 many mistakes, such as that resolution condemning the Lab- our M.P.'s for recruiting, that they now do more harm than good to any cause which they advocate. The trutil of this statement wa,4 exemplified in the House last week, when Mr Ellis Griffith torpedoed Mr Anderson's speech. If Mr J. H Thomas, who has worked hard to maintain the volun- tary system, had been put up to move the rejection of the Bill, he would not have presented such an easy target. to Mr Ellis Griffiths' devastating epi- grams. And I make bold to prophesy that the voice of the I.L.P. will be jus puny and futile in influence when peace comes as it is now. Contrast their position with that of the French Socialists at the end of the war. What a chance you have thrown away, Mrs. Glasier, and mv comrades of the I.L.P.! Yours* fraternally, J LODQE SECRETARY. *P.S.Mrs. Glasier will probably re- member that Bebel, more than once, told the French representatives at In- ternational Socialist Congresses, that it was the Prussian armies, which, by defeating Napoleon III., gave them the Third Republic. "It would be easier to shift the Ger- mans out of France and Belgium than to get me to abide by the law. I never have done so and never will," said Wm. White, a Treorky man, who was charged at Pent/re Police Court on Mon- day with a breach of his probation. Police-sergeant Evans stated that he saw defendant in the Princess of Wales Hotel, Treorky, with a pint of beer before him. Witness told him to leave, and he said "Let me have mv pint first." Fined 40s., or one month's imprisonment.

i. i I w r r- EYE5T1AIN brings about the most distressing efforts Jind he8rinhe. It causes orr- ) up the "YlSI pro- "1.1' fct ane1 wJink16s. Thl •' <iisi-i?rt\onbjQ and prernMo-u oiy appourance. Our methods hre strictly scien- tific and up'b-,Jato. We never recommond glasses unless abso- lute! v noccsflFirv. C. F. WALTERS, F.S.M.C., F.I.O., QUALIFED OPTICIAN, -C) w fc3, rci St W. A. WILLIAM'S, Phrenologist, can be consulted daily at the Victoria I Arcade (near the Market), Swansea. V

———— ———— CATARRHAL COLDS AND STUBBORN COUGHS. The Remedy you can trust is VENO'S LIGHTNING COUGH CURE.

BRYNAMMAN. I Sergeant Phillip Evans, of the Military Police had an enthusiastic send-off at the Trgeyb Arms on Saturday evening, when a large number of his friends met. Mr. Havelock Roberts presided. Messrs. Harry Rees, J. L. Steven, W. D. Dargee, A. Rees, W. Rees, J. Rees, Jack Venon, and Jack Hopkin (Cwmllynfell), also sang Messrs Jack Lewis, Arthur Dennis, Dd. Williams, Billo Williams, Brynamman, and Joe Oram, Gamant, (comic), gave songs. Mir. Ted Mofsejj accompanied.

WELSH COAT, BOARD I INDEPENDENT CHAIRMAN NOT YET WANTED. There were several matters none of I outstanding importance dealt with at the meeting of the Joint Board of Con- ciliation for the Welsh coal trade held at Cardiff on Tuesday. Mr. F. L. Davies presided over the owners' re- presentatives and Mr. James Winstone over the workmen's representatives. The attendance also included the respective secretaries (Mr. F. A. Gibson and Mr T. Richards, M.P.). It was resolved to communicate again with the Lord Chief Justice, to whom the matter had been referred, regard- ing the appointment of the independent chairman of the board in sucoession to the Earl of St. Aldwyn, who recently resigned the position.

Mr. MacAra, speaking at a meeting of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce said i shipping profits were on an enormous scale. He suggested that a scheme should be considered for the restriction of freights, which were so high a sto be in- juirious to trade.

I STARRED JlIJiISG MEN I WORKERS WHO ARE FOUND INDISPENSIBLE. The monthly meeting of delegates re- presenting the anthracite district of the South Wales Miners' Federation was held on Saturday at the Dockers' Hall, Swan- sea. There were present 62 delegates, re- presenting 14,000 workmen, together with the chief agent (Mr. J. D. Morgan), the sub-agent (Mr. John James), the district treasurer (Mr. J. D. Morgan), and the district secretary (Mr. David Morgan). Mr. W. Hughes, Cross Hands, was appointed chairman for the coming year and Mr. Thos. Davies (checkweigher), Ys- tradgynlais, was elected to succeed him in the vice-chair. THE 5 PER CENT. INQUIRY. I Mr. J. D. Morgan, in his monthly re- port, explained that the "five per cent. inquiry" had been unavoidably post- poned owing to the ill-health of the chair- man (Sir Lawrence Gomme) who was pre- pared to make another appointment as soon as the state of his health showed signs of improvement. The general oom- mittee were satisfied that the case would not be indefinitely or unnecessarily post- poned, and that if their case was strong- ly made out they did not think there would be a.ny difficulty in getting the award made retrospective, so that the in- terests of the workmen would not be prejudiced by the delay. The anthracite coal trade had never been in a better position than at present. The demand was far in excess of the supply. The prices ruling were such as had never before been touched, and so far there had not been any serious shortage of tonnage such as had been experienced in the Western district. The Coal Supplies Committee had recommended the Government to compel boats now trading between neu- tral countries to give preference to trad- ing between home and foreign ports, and to give the necessary attention to ship- building, and a favourable reply had been given by Mr. Runciman on behalf of the Board of Trade. MINERS STARRED MEN. i The extraordinary demand for Anthira- I cite made it imperative that all employers I should retain at the collieries all the men 1 who were indispensable in oirder to keep j up the total output of coal so that the national interest should not suffer. All underground workmen were starred, and all the men who were engaged on the surface as winding enginemen, pumpmen, fitters, and mechanics. Some of those terms would take a wider interpretation than was signifie-d by looking closely into the matter. While it was the duty /of every eligible man to join the Army of his own free will and save the country, and also to make the compulsion policy, if possible, a dead letter, still it was the duty of all men who were indispensable to the coal trade of the country to stay at home and do their share to keep up the full output of coal as long as the Govern- ment deemed it necessary. It was reported that the Is. levy to- wards the fund for the soldiers and sail- ors blinded and otherwise incapacitated in the war was coming in satisfactorily, and about JS600 was likely to be realised. A resolution was passed agreeing to support the Is. levy for the wounded sol- diers now lying in hospitals, but urging the Government to make provision to meet the necessities and comforts of those men who had been incapacited by serv- ing their country. PROTEST AGAINST TAXING THE I WAGES OF MINERS. A resolution was also passed protesting against taxing the wages of the workmen, and that this protest be sent to Mr. McKenna, Mr. Asquith, and the Labour Party. It is understood that the Income Tax, in its new phase, will effect fully two- thirds of the miners of the Anthracite district, as the minimum wage would bring their earnings up to, and over, the L 130 limit. Subsequently, in conversation wit-h one of the delegates, I elicited the jocular statement "Of course, we don't want to pay Income Tax, who does? We may, and probably will, have to pay, like other people, but we are well within our rights in protesting against it, just as all sorts of other people appeal on all sorts of pleas."

I NEARLY 300 SAILORS POISONED AT I CHATHAM. Nearly 300 sailors at the Royal Naval Barracks, Catham, have been suffering from food poisoning. After partaking' of a dinner consisting chiefly of pea soup and salt beef the men were immediately attacked with sickness and violent pains. Naval surgeons were hastily summoned, and the majority of the men soon got well, as the result of the remedies ad- ministered, but others had to be sent to hospital. It is hoped all will recover. For forgery and misappropriati. ngI clients' money, Daniel Walkins, solicitor 1 and magistrates' clerk, was at Cardigan I Assizes on Saturday, sentenced to four I years' penal servitude. J Whi'le washing silver at the Queen's Hotel, Eastbourne, a plateman named William Marks fell forward into the water during a fit and wao drowned.

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