Pioneer

Merthyr Notes. Public-houses Assessments Reduced. Merthyr Assessment Committee on Saturday temporarily reduoed the ratable valuations of public-houses in the union area by 22} per cent. Lively Aberfan War Aims Meeting. Mr. Clem Edwards, M.P., was persistently heckled by a few anti-war miners at a war-aims meeting at Aberfan on Wednesday, at which his co-speakers were Mr. Towyn Jones, M.P., and Commander Carlyon Bellairs, M.P. He started off by saying that he regarded the suggestion to take a ballot .of the South Wales coalfield on the down-tools question as a gross act of treachery to our Allies, to the nation, and to the soldiers from the coalfield. He prophesied that nine out of every ten of the young colliers of South Wales at next week's ballot would vote against a down- tools policy. Then the opposition made itself vigourously apparent. Why aren't voti in khaki yourself," • £ rieC? one. "-Because he's got a better," inter- jected another-. (Laughter and cries of "Slmt 1 7  ) lip. Mr. Edwards Because I am considerably over 40, being in my 50th year. I asked to ioin'the regulars within four months of the outbreak "f war, and I was refused. I am in a Volunteer C o c.0111 Corps, ami when the tx»>"e comes Y sfcan be fight- ing) ftlKt I hÚf;e you win go and do the same. (Applause.) Continuing his speech, the mem ber for East Glamorgan was continually held up by a hurri- cane of questions from the opposition quarter. At the conclusion he promised to come back to talk to the miners again and devote. his time whollv to questions. Vaynor Milk Prices. Vaynor Food Control Oommitte.e have fixed I the retail price of milk for the parish at 6d. per quart. Municipal Employees Wages. Merthyr Corporation on Tuesday adjourned c.onsideration of the demands of the Municipal employees for 15s. advance in wages on the pre- war basis, so that the rfltes naid by other muni- cipalities and district councils might be verified. The Mayor Elect. A general purposes committee meeting of the Merthyr Town Council on Tuesday chose Ald. N. F. Hankey, J.P., as mayor-elect for the en- suing year, lie thus being the first mayor for the borough to hold office two years in succession. The choice was made on the proposition of Aid. F. T. James, seconded by Mr. J. Harpur. Mr. L. M. Francis, on behalf of the Labour group, raised objection to the precedent- created by the re-election and Mr. A. Wilson (Labour), after pointing out the Labour attitude was only taken on principle, paid a personal tribute to Ald. Hankey's service as mayor. No other name being submitted the Mayor was re-elected amidst applause. Son of Mr. Frederick Alers Hankey, first unionist ALP. for the Chertsevj Division of Surrey, and a. London banker, the Mayor was educated at Sherbourne and after- wards graduated at Magdalen College, Oxford. He is managing director of the Hills-Plymouth Colliery Co. (Ltd.) and a member of the Coal-j owners' Association. He has sat on the Council for upwards of 20 years. Measles Outbreak. Troedy" rhiw and Cefn infants schools are tem- porarily closed down because of the prevalence of measles in the two villages. Maxton at Troedyrhiw. Mr. James Maxton had a good meeting at Troedyrhiw on Tuesday night. There were very few bare spots in the Tabernacle Hall, and his reception and frequent salvos of applause testi- fied to the peoples appreciation of his clever speech. Mr. Maxton dealt in easy fashion with the evolution of life and of social practices and organisations, demonstrating the value of the Divine discontent of the agitator, as the agent of evolutionary progression; and showing how Socialism was the ultimate end of social evolu- tion amongst civilised nations. He made some fine rapier thrusts at modern conditions, and was bitingly critical in his survey of the philosophy of Jingoism. Bowls. The following officers were elected at the an- nual meeting of the Cyfarthfa Bowls Club, Mer- thyr: Chairman, Mr, Milton Thomas; vice- chairman, Mr. T. Phillips; captain, Mr. R. A. Pring; vice-captain. Air. D. J. Humphreys; secretary, Air. W. Williams; and treasurer, Mr. D. J. Parry. Steady Progress. The Merthyr I.L.P. is steadily increasing its membership these days; each weekly meeting seeing a few new members added to the roll. On Tuesday ten new members were proposed and ac- cepted by the Party. Cyfarthfa Works Accident. William Little (46), of St. Tydfil's Avenue, Twynyrodyn. was working with a gang replacing a damper on one of the Castle Mill stacks at the Cyfarthfa. Works on Sunday when apparent ly the "tackle" gave way and he crashed to the mill roof 35 feet below. He was (lead when picked up. Cyfarthfa Blast Furnaces. I The blast furnaces, at the Cyfarthfa Works, Merthyr (re-opened about twelve months ago after a period of idleness extending over ten years) were started on Monday. Upwards of 100 new hands have been ta ken on. N.S.P.C.C. and Chilcf-Neglect. The National Society for the Prevention of I Cruelty to Children im-csti?ated 3.201 com- plaints of neglect and cruelty in England, W?lea and Ireland during the month of September. Of I the 3,143 completed cases, 3,049 were founcli true, an'ectin? the welfare of 9,182 children and involving 3,1 8Ú offenders. "arl1Jng were issued in 2?77 cases; 103 were prosecuted (re- sulting in 101 convictions) and 169 were dealt i with by transfer or in other ways. From its foundation in 1884 the Society has dealt with -968.397 complaints, invoh-ing 2,723,395 children. In the Merthyr and District Branch during the same month 12 cases were dealt with, affect- ing 27 children. Allotments. PE'rson recpÚl'ing allotments in thtO' :l\If'rth,vr, Persons requiring a l lotments In the Merthyr, Dowlais and Penydarren districts for cultivation next season -art,, to send their names, without delay, to the Secretary of the Merthyr and"Distriet Allotment-Holders' Association. Mr. Charles Ballard, 13 The Parade, Merthyr. Royal Sanitary Institute. I At an examination held at Aberystwyth uni- versity on October 26th and 27th, Air. Oliver HaD, "Hawthorns," Edwards ville, Treliarris, was successful in obtaining the certificate of Sanitsvry Insppctor. Mr. Hall was trained for the examination by Mr. Lewis Mills (sanitary inspector. Town Hall. Merthyr). II. L.P. The I.L.P. on Tuesday night decided to press forward a scheme for communal kitchens in Mer- thyr at the next meeting of the Trades Council. Brewery Assessment. Merthyr Assessment Committee have granted a temporary reduction of 20 per cent. in the ratable valuations and breweries and spirit- stores in the Union. The Secondary Teachers' Revolt. The graduate and non-graduate masters and mistresses ais Cyfarthfa and Intermediate Schools, who, as announced last week, are in re- volt and have handed in their notices to the Merthyr Education Authority as a protest on certain points, have held several meetings during the past week, and incidental to other conten- tentions, the teachers are dissatisfied with the proportion of the Fisher Grant allotted to them, viz., £ 540 out of t2,097, and they pointed out that at Swansea and Llanelly the whole of the Fisher grant for the secondary schools were allo- cated to that object, whilst at Cardiff £ 2,700 was allocated out of £8,1(>0, and at N' ewport out of

Smuts at Tonypandy. I FARCICAL PROCEEDINGS. General Smuts and Dr. were billed ¡ to speak to the llhonclcla miners on Alondav last at Tonypandy, and the subject was to be "The War Aims." But alas, only a negligible number of miner's were present, the best seats were re- served for the select (?), who came to the meet- ing at the very last minute, while there were hundreds who had waited outside for hours, and could not gain admission. And yet, we are taught that in prosecuting this war, all class dis- tinctions must be thrown overboard, and are thrown overboard. But in spite of the apparent success of the meeting, its effect upon.. the miners will be very minute, that is, from the point of view of lessen- ing the amount of unrest prevalent among the South TTales miners, and makiag greater the en- thusiasm to support the Government, which un- doubtedly was the Government's purpose in ar- ranging Geeneral Smuts' and his retinue's trip to the lihondda. There is no need to dwell upon the contents of these gentlemen's speeches, but to say that their speeches were pregnant with the usual militarist abstractions, such as, "We are fighting for liberty, for freedom, for the sake of small nationalities," and again, "We have a bright future before us," "I see a bright sun shining through the dark clouds," these and many other abstract phrases we are all familiar with. They dare not speak of the future in a concrete way, because they are aware, and we are also aware, of what the future has in store for us if the workers do not wake up. To hear General Smuts talk of liberty and freedom, when we still remember the part be played in turning the troops upon our fellow- workers of the gold mines on the Rand in July, 1913, and in imagination probably hear the moanings and death-cries of these unfortunate wage-slaves, and also remember Smut's action in transportinv the nine Labour leaders to London on board the « U mgeni this is enough to make us wonder where he stores his audacity. But times have changed. Smuts spoke of disarmament, but do not let us be deceived—as many Socialists during this war has been decei ved— in thinking that there is an identity of interests between ourselves and such persons, it is only a "community of interests," if any. The Right Hon. Wm. Brace also spoke in a "sloppy" and bombastic manner, knowing full well he was protected by an audience w hose thoughts and ideas are mirrored from the! "South Wales Echo." He informed his audi- ence that the name of the South Wales miner was stinking all over the country, and he put forward the argument that the ballot should not come off because if we were im Germany we would not even be allowed to talk of a ballot. I' Thus spake the Right Honourable One, whom we should all be proud of (?), one who has risen out of the ranks of the workers to ape the man- ners of the drones, and so well has he copied their habits that we are indeed proud to think that he has done so. The meeting was a farce, I to say the least, but there were indeed a few interruptions, but had it been an open meeting the Rhondda miners would have told General Smuts what they thought of him and his treat- ment of their fellow-workers in South Africa.

The Electric Theatre. All along the Electric has been known as the house of the superb serials, and that popularity looks like being considerably enhanced from the opening chapters of "Pearl of the Army," the splendid Pa the that is just starting, and more especially by the securing of the famous, new short Gaumont serial Judex," which opens next- week. It is a mystery serial of revenge, love and justice specially written for English production by those masters of cinema feuillton, M. Bernede and M. Feuillade. In the opening chapters, that are announced for the second half of next week, we are plunged at once into the thick of this entrancing mystery. Big-bookers have been excited over Judex," and the only criticism I have seen of it was a complaint that it should have been made to run more than ten weeks. To me it seems that this is a feature in its favour, viewing it from this end it seems as though ten weeks is just a nice run. Of course, there are splendid supporting pic- tures. and really great top^liners and comedies- that is typical of the Electric. This weeks open- ing programme was simply wonderful, with its splendid Phillips drama Storm and Sunshine," and its big bundle of comedies, including Chap- lin, Ritchie, and Alack Swain, the latter in a gallivanting Triangle. The second half, though, is even still better. Headed with one of the most outstanding picture-dramas of the year, LieJ., Phalene, it contains a most amazingly joyful eolIectioll of humorous tit-bits including the best Chaplin I have seen, The Rounders," and Billy West and a Gaumont comedy. Next week's top-liners are to be from the cele- brated Metro House. That for the first half is ".The Mystery of Cradelbough's," a new mys- tery story that is quite unique, that is .all thrills and that features some of the finest character work ever screened. "Her Torpedoed Love" is the Triangle, and it is only necessary to point out that Fci-d Stirling and Louisa .Fazenda are the principals to fill the house. Beautiful Love" is another outstanding comedy, and there is a particularly thrilling instalment of Pearl of the Army." For the second half a red-letter programme is being screened including the opening of "Judex." PLAYGOER.

PLEASE MENTION THE PIONEER WHEN ANSWERING ADVERTS.

The War Aims of Socialism ) THE EMANCIPATION OF LABOUR FROM I CAPITALISM. I JIMMY MAXTON'S GREAT MISSION IN I WELSH VALLEYS. me visit ot James Maxton, of Glasgow, to the Merthyr and adjacent vallies during the past week has whetted our appetite for more of him. Of course, we knew much of him before. HIS name we have always associated with the progressive movements on the Clyde during these last years of turmoil, but we had regarded him more as the wild agitator," as he him- self describes it, than as the forceful, eloquent propagandist. In the new sphere he was more of a surprise to us, a, pleasant one and a wel- come one. His inaugurating" meeting in the Rink on Sunday afternoon will be accounted as one of the most successful and notable of this year's gatherings. Mr. Maxton was lucky in having Councillor Ll. M..Francis as his chair- man, and the Penydarren councillor was ex. tremely fortunate in chairing for such a meet- ing. Mr. Maxton began by decrying the popular reverence for book-learning and University de- grees. His real education only began—he as- sured us—when he was shut up within prison walls, and was only effectively continued when he had to start in a shopyard to earn his living. The real education was in drawing the real facts of life from observed experiences; and this, lit- Was sure, one did not learn primarily from books. In particular did he decry the educa- tional (?) value of newspaper reading, trench- ently pointing his remarks by his reference to the treatment of the Bolo affair by three con- joint owned Glasgow papers. The Times "—the organ that reached the masses—howled about the Bolo affair in terms of relativity to the Socialist agitation on the Clyde; demanding the scrutiny of the Pacifist and Socialist banking accounts. The Herald," the solid, respect- able journal of the men of substance on the C'lvde, had not a word to say, while the organ of the junior clerks and housewives, The Bulle- tin," said that anyone who associated the Social- ist Movement on the Clyde with German gold was not worthy of consideration. Yet all were owned by the same proprietors. He suspected that just as South Wales had been misrepresented in the Northern journals, so the Clyde had been painted black in the South Walian dailies. What was the view of the whole situation on the Clyde? It was this, that war was one of the necessary phenomena of a Capitalist system of Society. (Cheers.) That While war might bring some advantages to the Capitalists, could never bring any good to the workers. (Cheers.) They found all nations alike in one thingthat 95 per cent. of their toilers lived in misery/ nad 5 per cent. luxuriated on the toilers' backs. The liberties we were going to restore to Belgium and Servia, after the war had gone on to the conclusion our rulers hoped for was the liberty of that 5 per cent. to exploit the 95 per cent. That was the only liberty they understood. He was over in Ireland the other week—not in the rebellious Sinn Fein sections, but in loyal Belfast, the spiritual home of Sir Edward Carson—and there were then on strike the women workers in a famous lineit concern. Those women were paid 3s., 4s., and 5s. a week, and their claims were declared to be impossible by the firm, who refused to consider their demands at all. (Shame.) We of the Socialist Movement must not allow ourselves to be led away by the mere canting cries in connection with warfare. We had to look up the actual hard facts of the situation, and the facts as we found them were that those who were running this war in all countries, were using it to increase their profits, .and strengthen their disciplinary powers over the workers, to speed up production and to lower the general standard of life of the people. These were facts which could not be denied. Control in the workshops had reached a point it had never attained before; output had been in- creased five, six and seven times what it was in pre-war days.. On the other hand, the power of expressing revolt and discontent against these things had been limited and still further limited. There was mot a single thing that a worker could say expressing revolt against these condi- tions which did not render him liable to prose- cution, and the fact that arrest and imprison- ment were not used when the legislation existed, was because it had been found that this policy did not have the effects hoped for. In Glasgow during the incarcerations of a year ago the Socialist Movement made rapid strides. The membership during the first six months of the present year was equal to what it had been for the whole of the previous twelve months and, this September they received in funds from their members more than three times what they re- ceived in September, 1916. (Cheers.) But still those powers existed, and our real liberties had been taken away—and so, those powers might be used in the future to prevent the worker's from making a fight. It was because we knew these things that we did not believe the protestations of anxiety for liberty abroad. We did not believe that they were out for those ideals, but for greater spheres of exploitation, for greater powers over greater areas of the earth, and over millions of man- kind. This was true of both sides—the ideals clashed. But there was no such clashing of in- terests as between the workers of the different belligerent nations. The interests of the workers were identical the world over. We were out for liberty, and there could be no liberty so long as there was economic and in- dustrial slavery. There could not be. If our workers were anxious for liberty, then they were only going to get it by getting, free from all economic and industrial servitude. That was not being fought out on the battlefield; that had to be fought out at home. (Cheers.) We of the I.L.P. wanted the workers to divert their pluck and their courage to the service of their own class—(cheers) ;—throw off the fetters that bound them, that bound the world from progress.

i Women Series-No.2. B Extract from Daisy's Diary g Wm MONDAY Got up at six. Very The flavour of the Rown- FLS HBj cold. Nellie advised me to tree's was just delicious and <t? 19 try Rowntree's Cocoa to keep so refreshing, it made us all jt? jjjH the cold out. Don't believe in. very lively. We all voted sPllr copying other people. Rowntree's Cocoa extra. o | 8 § ■ TUESDAY Two of the girls SATURDAY: Always have my OKI |B gave a "cocoa party" at cup of Rowntree's now- sM) tM home, one of the jolliest can't make out how I ever gg|j ?N evenings I've eVM spent. got on without it. jB? 1 a cup of I I £ £ ect Cocoa I ■ MaAw a faacuit inJõamøal »

I Master Painters' Appeal to the Men DO NOT WORK FOR NON-SOCIETY BOSSES. A special meeting of the Rhondda, Pontypridd, and Merthyr branches of the National Society of Painters was held on Saturday last at the Mer- thyr branch roo-ms, Mr. W. Hawkins (Ponty- pridd) in the chair. An important letter was read from the Master Painters' Association, ask- ing the Operatives to sign an agreement to this effect: "That they as employers would not employ an operative if he was not a member of the Painters' Union, if the operatives undertook not to work in any shop, job, or contract that is not being carried out by a member of the Master Painters' Association. The operatives thought that this was too Utopian, and decided that the letter lie on the table. Another letter, from the same source, stated that they, the em- ployers, had endeavoured to prevent the Rhondda Council from employing direct labour, and asked the assistance of the Pontypridd branch operatives to prevent the various councils employing direct labour in the painting trade. The question of new rules covering the three valleys was discussed and agreed to, on the motion of Edward Shadbolt, Merthyr the La- bour Pioneer Press to do the printing. Mr. Shadbolt stated that the paper was controlled, printed and published by trades unionists, there- fore they should support their own press. Ihis was carried.

Rhondda Notes. I Labour Party. I The Executive of the Rhondda Labour Party, after considering the forthcoming Labour Party Conference at Nottingham in January, decided to forward the following resolutions: (a) "To urge upon the National Labour Party the set- ting up of an Advisory Council in Wales on similar lines to that in Scotland, so as to co- ordinate the Poli.tical Movement in Wales," and (b), That steps should be taken whereby the Parliamentary Labour Party should be instructed to bring about such alterations in the present law that shall give to the Trades Unions full liberty of control over its own administration, which is now so much hampered in its freedom of action by legal enactments and judge-made law.

RHEUMATISM- KIDNEY TROUBLE. I Rheumatism is due to uric acid crystals in the joints and muscles, the result of excessive uric acid in the system that the kidneys failed to remove as nature intended and this acid is to a great extent the cause of backache, lum- bago, sciatica, gout, urinary trouble, stone, gravel and dropsy. The success of Estora Tablets for the treat- j ment of rheumatism and other forms of kidney trouble is due to the fact that they restore the kidneys to healthy action, and thereby remove the cause of the trouble, and have cured num- berless cases after the failure of other remedies, which accounts for them superseding out-of-date medicines that are sold at a price beyond all but the wealthy. Women frequently suffer from ills, aches, and pains under the impression that they are victims of ailments common to their sex, but more often than not it is due to the Iiidneys, aijd in such .cases Estora. Tablets will set them right! The test is at least worth making, as woman's happi- ness and success in life depends on her health. Estora Tablets fully warrant their description -an honest remedy at an honest price, 1/3 per box of 40 tablets, or six for 6/9. All Chemists or, postage free, from Estora Co., 132, Charing Cross Road, London, W.C. Bargood and Aberbargoed Agent—W. Parry WILLIAMS, M.P.S.

Gorseinon N otes- News of C.O.s. Letters which have been received from com- rades contained much cheerful news. Those who were arrested last of all sent a most inspiring letter to their friend, written on the way to Wormwood Serubbs. They are determined to see it through. The same spirit of determination was felt in letters from those brave comradea; who are unr dergoing their second and third terms of im- prisonment. They clearly prove that Stone walls do not a prison make," nor do they alter a man's convictions, whether he is outside or in- We, together with them, would like to know when the authorities are going to realise the fact that imprisonment will not alter a man's- convictions, unless we are to accept the strength- ening of those convictions as an alteration. We would also like to know how much longer the- authorities shall be allowed to punish men more- than onco for the same offence? Surely, we, as Britishers, should see to it that a little justice- is meted out to our own countrymen as well as to a few priviliged foreigners. More War Aims. Dear- me! how very ignorant the military authorities must believe us to be. Before we- had properly recovered from one War Aims. meeting, there came another—and at a day's notice, too! Do they think Democracy is in swaddling clothes, that it cannot show sense and ability to distinguish between hard, solid faets; underlying Truth, and the light, airy fancies which War. Aimers delight in weaving around that virtue. We were told that Democracy ruled, and elected the present members of Parliament, therefore, Democracy was responsible for the present war, and should see to it that it was carried on to the bitter end. Mr. Clem Edwards followed—in a great hurrv" to begin. He enlarged upon the invasion of Bel- gium and the. "scrap of paper" for about two- minutes. We do really wonder what our poli- ticians woukl have done without that phrase, so aptly coined by the German Chancellor. TiieiT came the deluge The Welsh Miners were the scapegoats again—they were not in favour of 8' down-tool s policy, etc., etc., and the poor paci- fists Will they make such a. mess of national and international affairs as our profiteering, pa triots are doing? After casting most vile insinuations, this- speaker dived into his overcoat and made off-, in more of a hurry that when he came. He was due to take part in the work of national destruc- tion going on at the House of Alisrc-presenta- tives, and could not wait to answer questions, although he was invited to by a voice. An appeal was made at this juncture for a- Welsh hymn, and "Hen Wlad fy Nhadau" (" Land of my fathers") "was struck up, and the first few lines sung very half-heartedly in- deed. It may be that the people realised that they themselves did not own one inch of the land of their fathers, and it is rather hard to sing of the glory of what did once belong to you, and which is now owned by upstarts from other lands, isn't it ? The Future "Aimers." l will 't)-e The populace of Gorseinon will 'be privileged to hear in the near future Mr. Tom Mann, Mrs. Snowden, and Mr. R. C. Wallhead. These speakers come and talk, and do not go away be- fore the audience is satisfied. Come and listen to them. Come and question them. Printed and published by the National Labour Press, Ltd., at the Labour Pioneer Press*. Williams Square, erthyr Tydfil, SATURDAY. NOVEMBER 3rd, 1917.