Welsh Journals

and opposite aims. These two sides may negotiate, they may bargain, they may compromise, but they cannot from the very fact of their inherent antagonism control jointly. The very first essential of a controlling body is that its members shall have-not indeed, identical views-but a certain community of purpose, and a certain identity of point of view. Therefore, if the control of industry is in any measure and in any real sense to pass to Labour, it must be, not by any impossible endeavour to co-operate with employers on joint bodies, but by the transference of powers absolutely to bodies exclusively representative of Labour." The views thus expressed are probably those of the more advanced men amongst the leaders, both official and unofficial, of the South Wales Miners' Federation. If this attitude is endorsed by the coalfield as a whole the recommendations of the Commissioners may be dismissed as impracticable, apart from any hostility on the part of the employers to their application. The only hope of their adop- tion, even if the employers agree to their acceptance, lies in the assertion of power by the men holding less extreme views. It is not proposed to discuss the possibility of such a change of attitude on the part of the men being effected. It should, however, be strongly emphasised that, in the absence of such a compromise as the Commissioners suggest, industrial trouble of a most serious character may well arise during the very critical period after the War when THE DEAD POET. Killed: Evans 61117 E (Trawsfynydd)."] O Heart of Song 0 Voice so strangely stilled 0 Singing-brother of our ancient race How is it with thee ? Thou dost hide thy face In silence vast, with music unfulfilled. Poor melodies we waft with lips unskilled, Around thy deep and solitary place Of rest and lost for ever is the grace Of that rhyme mystical thy soul did build. Love, Beauty, Light-these golden gifts of Earth, Celebrate in thy song-have now no worth Nor any spell now for thee dark thy sleep Eternal. Yet in grief we do thee wrong The birds around thy solitude in song, Thy Bardic Festival most glorious keep. W. Garmon Jones. The University of Liverpool. the energies of the nation should be concentrated on the necessary but exceedingly difficult task of restor- ing national prosperity. The various other recommendations made by the Commissioners are of a more detailed character. They deal in the main with minor grievances, which can be adjusted with much less difficulty, without necessarily setting up any new machinery. The anticipated post-War conflict may quite easily arise over any one of these minor grievances. Such grievances, however, will be the occasion rather than the cause of the conflict. The cause will be found in the ever growing demand of labour to control the industry, and to a lesser degree to obtain for itself a larger proportion of the product. No measure that can be proposed of a palliative character can divert labour permanently from its objective. In the national interest, however, it is important that there should be no clash of the opposing forces either during the War or during the possibly even more critical period following the War, and for this reason people of moderate views will hope that the proposals of the Unrest Commissioners may receive acceptance both from the coalowners and miners of South Wales. Edgar L. Chappell. PROMISE. You heed me now as though I were a god, And there is not a word, a look I bring But those clear pools, your eyes, Receive unquestioning My pebbles are your pearls, and all untrod As yet the deeps where every pebble lies. Dear, in the hour when that thing shall awake Whereof your eyes give royal pledge to-day, And you are sword to Truth, Remember, if you may, There was one pearl I cast into that lake- Since I foreknew you in your dumb, still youth. V. H. Friedlaender.