Poster Campaign
…Income tax resisters will find “Twentieth Century Robbery,” “No Vote No
Tax,” and “The Paid Piper,” especially applicable to their case.…
Also from the issue of The Vote:
John Hampden Statue at Aylesbury.
The statue of John Hampden, presented to the county of Buckinghamshire by Mr.
James Griffiths, of Long Marston, in commemoration of the Coronation, was
unveiled at Aylesbury on by Lord
Rothschild. There was a large gathering, representative of Buckinghamshire
generally. After some difficulty the Women’s Tax Resistance League received
the assurance that they would be able to pay their last tribute to the great
Tax Resister.
At the close of the unveiling ceremony a procession of members of the League
crossed the market square to the statue, the crowd readily making way, while
police lined the short route. On behalf of the League, two delegates, Miss
Gertrude Eaton and Miss Clemence Housman, laid a beautiful wreath at the foot
of the statue. It was made of white flowers, on which, in black letters, were
the words, “From Women Tax Resisters.” Within the circle of flowers was a
ship in full sail with the name of John Hampden in gold letters on the
streamers. The ship was made of brown beech leaves (the beech is the tree
most famous in Buckinghamshire) and white flowers. Emblems were also laid at
the base of the statue from the Irishwomen’s Franchise League [this was
corrected in a later issue; it was actually from the Irish League for Women’s Suffrage] (a harp in Maréchal Niel roses), the
Gymnastic Teachers’ S.S. (blue
immortelles and silver leaves), and the London Graduates Union (a laurel
wreath). Among those present were Mrs. [Myra Eleanor] Sadd Brown, Mrs. [Mary]
Sergeant Florence, Dr. Kate
Haslam, Mrs. [Ethel] Ayres Purdie, Mrs. [Margaret] Kineton Parkes, Miss
[Minnie?] Turner, M.A., Miss [Maud?]
Roll, Mr. Lee and Mr. Sergeant.
Tax Resistance: The Situation at Bromley.
“My goods are not yet seized for non-payment of taxes. I am still barricaded.
“Outside the gate!
“A most uncomfortable position for the tax collector! But, while offering
sympathy, I feel the experience will be beneficial. There is nothing so
enlightening as a little ‘fellow-feeling.’ Nothing like going ‘there’ to
learn the discomforts of being where the woman is, and should be,
according to the gospel of the man at Westminster. Bolts and bars are never
pleasant things to deal with — from outside! They are terribly, cruelly hard
to remove when fixed by men driven by fear to protect an unjust wall of
separation. But walls must yield to pressure, and the women gather, intent
on ‘breaking down’; content, if need be, to ‘be broken.’ While men, relying
on their fastenings, ignore the trembling of foundations, women know the wall
is doomed, and when it falls they will flock in to do the bidding of the
“Anti” — to scrub and clean, to mind the babies, to stay in the
home — the National Home.”
K[ate]. Harvey.
Meetings in the Market-square, Bromley.
Meetings are now being held every evening in the Market-square, Bromley, and
are exciting wide interest. Mrs. [Charlotte] Despard was the speaker at the
first, and told the crowd why Mrs. Harvey was making this emphatic protest
against taxation without representation. Mrs. Despard’s own experiences
aroused much interest. The following evening Mrs. [Isabel] Tippett spoke, and
still larger crowds gathered to hear her. By
news of these regular meetings
had spread, and the audience was ready to receive the speakers. The “Antis”
are showing themselves — a sure sign of our success — but the chief argument
they bring forward, in the form of questions, is that of physical force:
because women do not fight they should not vote. Mrs. Merivale Mayer, the
speaker on , was able to show how
beneficial the women’s vote had proved in Australia, and told of the surprise
of Australian politicians that the Mother Country still refuses to give the
women the chance to stand side by side with men in the fight against evil.
The police are exceedingly kind — and evidently interested.
More Tax Resisters.
On , at Redding, goods belonging to
Professor Edith Morley were sold. Speakers: Mrs. [Anne] Cobden Sanderson,
Miss Gertrude Eaton. Also goods belonging to Miss Manuelle, at Harding’s
Auction Rooms, Victoria Station,
W. Speakers: Mrs. [Caroline]
Louis Fagan, Mrs. Cobden Sanderson,
Dr. [C.V.] Drysdale; and at
Working, silver, the property of Mrs. Skipwith, was sold. Speakers: Mrs.
[Barbara] Ayrton Gould, Mrs. Kineton Parkes. On
, at Southend, silver
belonging to Mrs. Douglas Hameton and Mrs. [Rosina] Sky was sold. There was
a procession with brass band prior to sale, and also a very successful
protest meeting. Speakers: Mrs. Cobden Sanderson, Mrs. Kineton Parkes, Mr.
Warren.
Also from the issue of The Vote:
Watch the Authorities!
The need for women to be on the watch is strikingly shown in the news of her
experiences which has been sent us by Miss Clara Lee, of Thistledown,
Letchworth, who points out how she forced an admission of error from the
Inland Revenue Authorities. She writes thus:—
As a tax resister, the following experiences prove the carelessness of
Government officials. Having refused to pay Inhabited House Duty
(8s.
9d.) to the local collector,
I was reported by him to the surveyor for this district, who sent a demand
containing two inaccuracies. I wrote to point that one ought not to have
occurred, seeing that we had had compulsory education since
; the other, he would see did not agree
with the original:—
Local Demand.
s. d. Schedule A 5 0 House Duty 8 9
Surveyor’s Demand.
£ s. d. Schedule A 0 5 0 Schedule B 1 1 5 House Duty 0 8 9
Schedule B, I found, applied to nurseries and market gardens. So I wrote
pointing out that the nearest connection I had to either, was that under the
Lloyd George Insurance Act I was classed with agricultural labourers. To
this I received the following letter:—
4, Cardiff-road, Luton, .
Inland Revenue — Surveyor of Taxes.
Madam, — Referring to your letter of
, I much regret
that £1 1s.
5d. was included upon your
demand note in error — the entry relating to the next person upon the
collector’s return. — Yours faithfully,
(Signed) G.R. Simpson.
Is this the exactness of the work for which women, as well as men, pay so
heavily? How long would a commercial firm exist, if it allowed such errors?
How long would the public tolerate such mistakes by women workers in our
hospitals and elsewhere? The title of idiot, lunatic and criminal must
revert to the people responsible for such a condition of things. The
8s.
9d. Inhabited House Duty has
now been deducted from my claim of return Income-tax; this seems an unusual
proceeding.
