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Political Notes f By F. W. Jowett. I 'tICKS THAT ARE VAIN. ————— tIt Mr. Bonar Law's brilliant idea for disarming Triple Alliance, or any larger Labour com- bI, na,t,ion I for the next three months, has failed. rphe Miners' parliamentary representatives did l lelr best at the Keswick conference to per- js^ade the delegates to decide that the Miners' deration would take no part in any stoppage Work for three months, but thev received no ;uPport. Of course, Mr. Bonar Law was well m-hen he asked for a pledge of inaction i. -ei,en a one-day strike against intervention th Itussia and against Conscription would compel t-he Government to appeal to the country. He so knows that pressure is hcliig brought to ar upon the Government by Big Business re- presentatives in the House of Commons against utionalisa,tion of Mines, and he fears there will b' a strike if he gives way to it. To have tied if the miners for three months; with the fur- possibility of disrupting the forces of La- lIr for a much longer period, would have been ,good thing from Mj. Bonar Law's point of I{> There is no denying the astuteness of the governing class in their dealings with Labour; lIt on this occasion it was excercised in vain. 4 CUTE DODCE. I threat of six shillings per ton advance on tie price of coal is another astute move on he part of the Government, the object of which j s to divide the workers. The public are expected ? Put the blame for the advance on the miners' ?*?:md for shorter hours and higher wa?es. The ?P'ta.Iist press simply screams condemnation of til?' miners, but says nothing of the fact the six "'?ngs extra which the consumer is to be ?ued upon to pay will leave the colliery owners ll receipt of excess war profits, and m posses- 8101} of the amounts they have received on ac- 'OUt1t of excess war profits up to date. It is Hken for granted that profiteering in coal—even lar profiteering-—must be a llowed, however high j "e price of coa l may go. I < I i GOVERNMENT, PROFITEER & CO., LTD. I In reply to a question iti the House of Corn- *n°ns (July 17th) the Chancellor of the Ex- r admitted that in the financial year end- ilig March. 1917, the coal industry had paid ex- f'"ss profits duty amounting to £ S,250.000. Last year the receipts on account of excess profits duty from the coal industry were £ 7,1.50,000. ft appear, therefore, that the Government alld t¡,p mnw/'s t()Cf('th(' t,ook about -l')') owners together too k a b out 000,000 from the consumers of coal during t:le last two years. Apart from all other con- siderations. it is sheer impudence to assume of coal must include large eon- tribvitions to the Government and to colliery Owners, in the form of profits in excess of profits rfeulised on coal prior to the war. WHAT WE CAN'T AFFORD. I ■ The truth is that the coa industry can 'Either afford war profits nor pre-war profits, ünd at the same time give decent conditions and to the ii-orkei-s concerned. Coal IS I ?''Y to dw community, and m'\?'r a??ain will :t ? produced bv workers content to jive without ??fo!-t. without hope and without ?eisu?'?. ?vinp? must come from other sources than la- hOUr o"b. and the Royal Commission has indi- cated that the alternative sources are to be tii, network of private profiteering in- terests which is controlling the coal industry at f*ery stage in production and distribution and In landlordism, which is the chief support of all sueh interests. WINSOME WINSTON Bras FOR A FOLLOWING. Mr. Winston Churchill, the Gallipoli Ciimble, Probably by arrangement with Mr. D. Lloyd vieorge, tho Artful Dodger with whom ho had been in consultation a few hours before he made the trial, has flown a new kite. He tried the Vviiid to see if it were favourable for a new party itbieh lie savs is required to fight Bolshevism, al- though when he was invited to explain what he 01 Pant by the term "Bolshevism" in the House recently, lie took refuge in silence. There is .,e for uncertainty as to what he does Mean when he speaks of Bolshevism, notwith- standing his refusal to explain. He means any Action of the community that cannot be bribed or diddled to support the capitalist svstem, which he is shrewd enough to see will fall into ruins unless the workers can he cajoled or forced into upholding it. At the dinner which provided the occasion for flying the Central Party kite, the Capitalist" Labour Party—the so-called Na- tional Democratic Party is reported as having been represented. It would be a mistake to sup- pose, however, that this band of capitalist jac- kals is likely to merge itself within the Central Party if such a Party should be formed. The function of jackal to the capitalist class will al- ways be its role. DIVIDE AND RULE. I It is possible also to discern one or two fea- tures in the policy of the politicians who are directing the forces of Capitalism under the Coalition Government, and these will not be changed even if the Coalition Government should change its name. The lines are becoming more clearly marked, that is all. Force is in the background all the time, and Churchill, the Gallipoli Gambler and the hero of Sydney Street 's its self-appointed prophet and leader. But the policy of force cannot succeed against the whole of the working-clas-s, for if the working class is united there will be no occasion for the Use of force. Votes and passive resistance ""ould in that event sufifce to determine what form of industrial organisation and political or- ganisation is to prevail in this country. By one means or another, therefore, it is necessary for the protection of Capitalism that new sectional interests shall be fostered in the working class, and old ones developed where possible. I SOLDIERS AGAINST WORKERS. I To the above-mentioned purpose the police force is being given as a bribe those better con- ditions which were refused to them when they were claimed as the right of the men concerned. In jeturn for the nribe they are expected to withdraw from all connection with the working- class, .and to become the hired tools of the mas- ter-class. Discharged soldiers are being deluded into the belief that Labour is indifferent or un- friendly to them, and the class responsible for this deception is the class that is responsible for paying them at the rate of a shilling a day, and making small additions when they could no longer be withheld, as money values decreased. But the additions were never allowed in propor- tion to the fall in purchasing power. ISEX ACAINST SEX. I The attempt is being made to promote sex an- tagonism by the class that has always exploited women in industry to cheapen its labour costs. As the dead weight charge on account of inte r- est on capital, real or ficticious, and on loans to the nation by bankers and financiers increases, and adds to the price of every article of con- sumption, each complaint is met by the pretence that the particular section of workers concerned is responsible for the difference. And this dead- weight charge on production is increasing, and as it grows the efforts of the leaders of the capitalist forces to divide the workers, and pre- pare for the use of force at the proper moment become more desperate. VICTORY LOAN FIASCO. No recent event has contributed more to hurry up the preparations for the coming strug- gle that Wliist-oii Clitii-eiiiii forsees than has the failure of the "Victory JJoJn." Its failure compels the Government to think seriously of meeting the financial situation with something, more than a mere provision of interest on the vast amount of accumulated debt in the earlier years following the war. The chief object of the Victory Loan was to secure lodg-date loans to replace floating debt, the liquidation of which may hi- demanded at short notice. The amount of floating debt is no less than £ 1,400,000,000. The Victory Loan has realised only a little over amount £ 170,000,000 is merely conversion of old loans into new. There is, therefore, not more than t539,000,000 of the Victory Loan taken up. Even this amount is nominal. It represents the face value of loans tor has actually been received. 1:230,000,000 of this £ 450,000^,000 <s required to balance last year's Budget, leaving only a paltry £ 220,000,000 to meet a rapidly ac- cumulating deficit between income and expendi- ture and possible demands for repayment of short-dated loans. Either the accumulated wealth of the country, which is in private hands, must be rehvised soon, or the workers must pro- duce a far greater amount of surplus value to meet the demands of the holders of the mortgage on the nation's resources. For a decision oil this tissue the Gallipoli Gambler and hero of Sydney Street is marshalling the capitalist forces, and endeavouring to split up and spread confusion in the ranks of organised Labour. THE DEBT TO AMERICA. The rate oi exchange for British money has fallen 10 per cent, below normal in the United States. This is tlw financial way of expressing that the payment is demanded in the products of British Labour of substantial contributions on account of money lent to this country during the war, and that if payment s i(-)t forthcoming, America's cotton, corn and meat will be sent elsewhere than to Great Britain.

Peace, igig. I In wintry light, of winter's white As<nds the dove of peace. No clashing strain, of war's refrain, But carol notes increase. The spotless flakes, so softly break, Like tears of joy they fall From God above, His marks of love Like blesings cover all. The Springtime dawns, with silver morns Of peaceful heavenly shine. Those frolicsome sheep no longer sleep. But romp in the realm Divine. That better day, whose dawn of grey The universe has yearned. At last espies in tinctured skies, And hearts to God are turned. ()h dawn of Peace, thy day increase, Haste strong fraternal love Oh, may thy balm and quiet calm AH bitterness- remove. t The world is torn and battle-worn. Bruised with the fiery storm, But tranquil rest shall fill the breast, 'Neath Christ's transcendant form. No guns now boom, or war-clouds loom Upon the fields of France, Whose sacred mounds, and shell-torn wounds With lovely floret-tea dance. Where demons hovered, fair Nature's covered, Then let us all to-day, Forget the past, wjt h peace at last Strive for the better day. AP GWILYM. I

"Macdonald, The Vague. "I TO THE EDITOR. ] Sir,-I am more concerned with the elucida- tion of truth than I am with the splenitic out- burst of Mr. Noah Ablett, but I cannot refrain from entering a protest against both the tone and the caption of his letter. If a short criti- cism on his book can make him -so nervy he is ill equipped to be a patient teacher and too impatient to become a student. nr sneer at the so-called Pontificial attitude of Mr. Macdonald and to invoke the shade of another Pontiff in the person of Karl Marx, betrays an attitude of mind too common in the atmosphere of strenu- ous agitation in which we Socialists live and have our being. Mr. Macdonald may from Mr. Ablett's point of view be vague, but one cannot forget that there was nothing "vague" in his attitude during the war. He faced that and all its evil tendencies and manifestations with courage and fearlessness. When nearly all his former pre- I war detractors, the clean cut Socialists went howling into the Jingo shambles, and numerous class conscious Marxians spun a sleeping shroud from economic theory and philosophical precept, j Macdonald "the vague" faced the abuse, vili- fication and scorn of a patriotic press and a war- mad proletaria.t. Even Mr. Ablett may in his moments of reflection, appreciate the difference that lies between those two attitudes of mind. How easy, after all to adumbrate the theory that the European Armageddon was the inevit- able outcome of capitalistic expansion, and then pniiosopnicaiiv wait tor the debacle after the war and the awakening of the resurrection of the proletariat! How much harder it was to face the war and its madness, to be the butt of every fool's criticism, the target for every patriotic orator of the gutter type and journal- istic blackguards from the bottomless pit, and finally go down before the persistent and malig- nant opposition of every element of political coalitionists, "dean cut Socialists, class con- scious Marxians and a pro-war proletariat, and to lose his seat in the House of Commons as the price of his fidelity to the truth he held sacred. And the man who did all this, held no class-con- scious theory; more, was even suspected in pre- war days, of being ready to sell his political badge for a. seat in the Cabinet, simply called himself a Socialist, and testified to his faith in a manner that has won the regard of Socialists the world over. There was,nothing vague in that attitude, but there was something infinitely worse than vagueness in the < £ her; unless, per- haps, correctness of economic theory and clear- ness of philosophic concept bear no relation to the actual facts of life, or can be safely lockef up in our cabinets whilst the workers of the world unite" —to slay each other! Mr. Ablet may complain that all thir. is be- side the question he wishes to discuss. In that case, he .should set the example. I am a. student interested in every phase of discussion which a fleet our .socialist propaganda and teachings. But I want tlierA discussed without suspicion of vagueness or imputation of motive and accusa- tion of Bourgeoise sympathy which too often disgrace disagreement among ourselves. And it is all the more necessary when the question in dispute is one of method, economic theory, or philosophical precept. The habit of making an acid test of every point of difference, instead of a starting point for more patient investigation is more fraught with danger to our movement than anything our opponents can will or do against us. Whether human society is or is not biologic is surely a matter for investigation and discussion. We need not become acrid or hang on to the apron strings of living or dead pontiffs. Mr. Ablett may have convinced him- self that biologic sociology has been a failure and that human society lias ceased to live bio- logically. His "next step" is to convince others, and especially those opposed to him, that he is right. In this task he might with advan- tage follow the example of Mr. Macdonald, who in his preface to "Socialism and Society," de- finitely disclaims the idea that all Socialists hold, or should hold, his view that human society is biological. That is surely the spirit in which 1' 1 t in iv hic i i the point at issue should be dit?,2,sed among Socialists. The method of dogmatic assertion is utterly opposed to the spirit of careful investi- gation, and I sincerely regret that Mr. Ablett with his great capacity for hard work, his genuine enthusiasm for working-class education, and his brilliant intellectual ability, should be so prone, like an Indian Chief on the war-path, to don the war-paint and thro A- his tomahawk among his friends. Writing merely as a student I neither reject his theory or consider myself bound by it. T simply refuse to regard it as absolutely essen- tial to Socialist faith or absolutely indispensable for Socialist propaganda. parasitism exists in our social organism, or, if Mr. Ablett prefers the phrase, in human society. If biologic socio- logists have failed, or if the union between Bio- logy and Sociology has failed to yield practical results, is it not because as Patrick Geddes sug- gested, they failed to begin operations ? The value of Mr. Ablett's theory may be reduced in the same way, and whatever may be his view of social parasitism,"—which is, after alf; the stronghold of the biologic %(X-iologi.ts W(' will have to begin operations cither on his theory or another, and from whatever end we work. the elimination of the social parasite is, after all, the desirable thing. I am sorry that for purely personal and pri- vate reasons I am compelled to withhold mv name, but I hope that will not invalidate my plea for an atmosphere of the spirit of comrade- ship in the discussion.—Yours, etc., I A STUDENT OF SOCIALISM. 'I 1 July 21st, 1919.

Negotiations have been opened by the National Amalgamated Union of Shop Assistants, Ware- housemen and Clerks with Messrs. David Jones and Co., and Messrs. Walters, Jones and Co., Swansea,, for the adoption of tlie Union's Na- tional Minimum Wage Scale.

A Serious Allegation. UNDERFEEDINC OF NURSES UNDER POOR LAW. MERTHYR TRADES COUNCIL CALLS FOR INVESTICATION. I Amongst the interesting t,einq- discussed by the Merthyr Trades and Labour Council last Thursday, was the question of the nurses' food in the workhouse infirmary, in connection with which some serious allegations were made, and investigations promised. For the purpose of more adequately sys- tematising the advocacy of Co-operation trades unionists the Council unanimously agreed to a joint oonference with the three local Co-operative so(-iet.ies-to which the Shop Assistants will be invited. To further the project, a sub-commit- teess wa.s appointed to meet representati ves of the societies and the union. In an interesting report on the work of the Guardians, Mr. Isaac Morris (C-efn) mentioned that a majority of the aged poor who were to be treated to the trip to Barry Island as a cele- bration of peace, had preferred to travel by train rather than by motor chars-a-banc. An anxious enquiry on the part of the old men was whether there was to be any bacca," and when they learned that the allowance was to be one ounce to those going on the trip, and two to those staying at home, two or three anounced that they did not want to go oil the trip. (Laughter.) HARD AS A BOARD. I Serious allegations respecting the administra- tion of the food in the workhouse infirmary arose out of the statement of a delegate that an inma.te had presented him with a lump of cheese as hard as a board," and unfit for consump- tion," as a sample of the fore served out to them. Mr. Morris said he had never been to the in- stitution ii-ithotit going to all the poor old peo- ple, and at mealtimes when possible, and he had to say that there has alwafS been good food there. He would, however, try to get to the bottom of this by further investigations con- ducted at unexpected times. The delegate who had raised the matter also expressed the opinion that some form of tyranny was practised in the workhouse, since the old man who gave him the information begged of him not to disclose his name to any person. Mr. Bert Brobyn (another member of the Board) mentioned that tji- to the vewy rt,-oitt past the practice had been to parade all new inmates before the Board at its meetings. Against this practice the Labour Group had taken exception, and the practice of exhibiting the paupers had been stopped. (Hear, hear.) Still they did see the inmates, and without anv airs, and invariably they asked if there were a.ny complaints. It was up to the inmates to make those complaints when they were asked for them. Personally, the food he had. seen served there had been very good; it had been ipod that some of them could not afford to buy on the wages they earned. IINMATE PLEADS FOR NURSES. Mr. Isaac Jones (Treharris), also a member of the Board, said that when one day he was behind the infirmary the nurses complained to him. one going so far as to say that they were starved in the place. Moreover, an inmate had visited him to ask that something should be done—not on behalf of the inmates, but on be- half of the nurses who served them. Councillor Francis -aid that he had intended raising this point He had a daughter in the instftut-ion, and lie had made complaints to guardians, in particular to Mrs. Edmunds, whom he knew most intimately, but conditions did not seem to change at all. He thought that when working-men sent their daughters to the work- house infirmary to be trained as nurses, thev ought to be properly fed. (Hear, hear.) His hearers would be surprised if they knew of the number of girls from the infirmary, whose homes were outside of the district, who came to his house and gratefully took food because they did not get properly fed inside the infirmary. It appeared that there was 2/6 given towards-every nurse, and this 2/6 was clubbed and spent in a lump sum. Those nurses who did not care for the provisions bought them lost their share. He had asked a nurse if she had ever seen a Labour member present at meal times, and until the advewt of the new guardians, it, was one of the rarest things in the world to see a guardian around the infirmary during mealtimes. Mr. Bert Brobyn (a guardian) There is an- other side to this question. These officials are supposed to belong to their trade uiiion--and the union ought to do its proper work in addition to the guardians doing theirs. Mr. John Adkins (Chairman) also a member of the Board, thought the meeting could be as- sured that the matter was engaging the atten- tion of the Labour Guardians. It had been a sore point with some guardians since they had been on the Board. Without knowing exactly what it was they felt that something was wrong. The Council could take it that a real attempt was being made to nnd out what was really wrong, and to remedy it. Councillor Pedlar presented the, report of the Tow n Council activities. A question was raised as to the condition of the boats in Cyfarthfa lake, and the allegation made that a sub-com- mittee of inspection had merely gone to the Park, but had never even gone inside the rail- ings surrounding the lake. None of the councillors present had heard of such a sub-committee. Mr. Hugh Williams (Treharris) caused some laughter by asking if it had been the intention of the Corporation that parts of the tank ma- chinery should be taken away as momentoes of the great war by the children. Councillor Pedlar gave an unqualified denial to the suggestion that he had voted against the re-employment of C.O. teachers by the Council. He had voted for the re-employment. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Bert Brobyn asked if something could not be done to enclose the dirty brooks lodging at the foot of Dowlais tips, and which have proved a source of dajiger to children.

I Clydach's Great Protest. ALL COLLIERIES STOP TO DEMONSTRATE ACAINST RUSSIAN INTERVENTION, CON- SCRIPTION AND FOOD PRICES. All the collieries in the Clydach district took a-24 hours' strike on Monday as a protest against the attitude of the Government in the war 011 Russia, Conscription and the high cost of living. The Joint Committee convened a mass meet- i4g at 6 o'clock in the evening at the Public Ha.11. The Hall was densely packed with a most determined and enthusiastic audience, who loudly applauded the revolutionary Speeches de- livered by the local speakers. Mr. Tom S. Davies, who presided, stated that the miners in the locality, having failed to re- ceive the necessary instructions from their E.C., had taken things into their own hands and were going to appeal to their fellow-workers in other districts to co-operate for a general stop- day later on. I THE RESOLUTION. Mr. Edwin Thomas, check weigher, Glais, in a short speech moved the following resolution :— This mass meeting of the workers of Cly- dach and district most emphatically protests against the Government's intervention in Rus* sia, inasmuch as it is not consistent with Bri- tish traditions of Liberty and Freedom to use military force on a people who want lic-ace to work out their own destiny; and thereby help- ing to destroy at its birth a New Democracy and calls for the immediate withdrawal of an troops. We also demand the repeal of the Con- scription Act, as we believe it is unnecessary and that it is a direct violation of ejection pledges given by responsible ministers at the last general election. "A\e also view with alarm the threat-øn. high cost of living for the coming winter and demand that all necessaries of life shall again be controlled and th?t an inquiry be heM into the high cost of clothing a.nd footwear, inas- tlle high cost of clothing and foot-u-eaa- i n a 4- much as at present pricesit is Impossible for the workers and their families to be properly clothed. "Further, that we pledge ourselves to use every means in our power to attain these ends." I d. L. REES' POINTER. M#J.l-. Rees, Tfci'-uns, in 4 strottg speech, in which he dealt with the atrocity" stunt by referring to atrocities committed under the Tzarist regime whe n there was no talk of sending an expedition out to rescue the victims. He said that speech-making will not compel the Government to withdraw the troops from Rus- sia. Industrial action was the only effective weapon with the workers to enforce the demands contained in the resolution. (Applause.) Mr. Charles Williams, Pontardawe (Steel- smelters) then supported in a most inspiring ad- dress in Welsh. He stated that the crime the Bolsheviks had eommitteed was to have brought about the economic revolution, and had over- throw n the old capitalist order and had estab- lished in its place the Workers' Socialist Re- public. (Loud applause.) He gave numerous instances of the things already accomplished by the Soviets in the way of providing free litera- ture and free education to the workers, and the provisioning of 30 million people through the Co-ol)erative;" Societies. He appealed to the workers of South Wales to support their fellow- workers of Russia in their noble task of estab- lishing a real peace and a working-class demo- cracy throughout Europe. (Loud applause.) I NUN NICHOLAS ANALYSES BOLSHEVISM. Mr. Nun Nicholas then foHowed with a clever analysis of Bolshevism, in which he traced the development of the Revolutionary movement in Russia before and after the war. He proved be- yond doubt that the intervention in Russia was promoted solely for capita-list ends. Conscrip- tion and the high cost of living were the inevit- able consequences of the present order of society. Winston Churchill would use every power at his command in order to defeat the workers of Russia and England. His boss was Lloyd George, and the workers would have to fight these men. Passing resolutions is not enough, you must have action. Act you must, and so it is better for you to act now. (Loud applause.) He also dealt with Nationalisation and gave instances of profit made by certain companies during the war. When put to the meeting the resolution was carried with acclam- ation, not a single hand beind raised against. Then the vast audience rose and sang the Red Flag," which terminated a most successful meeting. On the motion of the Clydach Lodges, the Western District of Miners are moving to bring about a general stoppage on August 30th. The matter will be discussed at the monthly meeting at Swansea next Saturday. We understand that the Swansea Labour As- sociation are also co-operating in the matter.

I Swansea Election Result/J TRIUMPH FOR LABOUR. The result of the Swansea East bye-election is certainly a victory for Labour. Despite the fact that the coalitionists put up a popular and powerful local candidate, despite the fact that the Government played their greatest elon- eering dodge of all—the 6?- per ton stu?'' to stampede voters against the Nati?naH?a?ion platform, the Coalition majority in S?'a'n?ea'h?ts been pulled down by no less than 3,638 vdf#s' The result was:— ? ¡H.M David Matthews (C.Lib.)  9)' q David Williams (Lab.) 8.1?8 Majority. 1,092 Previous election, Dec., 1918: T. J. WiHiams (C.-Lib.), 11,071; David Williams (Lab.), 6.341. Majority, 4,730. I 10 'i .cw:1 f 01;1