Kate Harvey Describes the Auction of Her Property for Resisted Taxes

The Vote

From the issue of The Vote:

Women’s Tax Resistance League

On , Mrs. [Margaret] Kineton Parkes addressed the members of the National Union, at Cardiff, on “The Principles of Tax Resistance,” with Dr. Mary Evans in the chair. On , Mrs. [Anne] Cobden Sanderson visited Birmingham, and gave a lecture on “Tax Resistance” at the Annual Meeting of the Women’s Suffrage Society, presided over by Mrs. [Catherine?] Osler. Mrs. Cobden Sanderson has since left England to attend the Stockholm Conference, representing the above Society.

During this week goods will be sold which have been seized from Mrs. Lilian Hicks, Dr. Katherine Heanley and Miss [Kate] Raleigh.

Also in the same issue was a letter from Kate Harvey:

To the Editor of The Vote

Madam,— Will you allow me a short space in your columns to protest against the sale of my goods, which took place at Brackenhill, Bromley, on ?

Being by training, as well as by temperament, a law-abiding woman, I strongly object to the necessity for such a course of action; but there is — there should be — a limit to a woman’s patience. The limit is reached when they talk of compelling us to contribute towards the salaries of the men who slam the door in our faces! Resistance is our most effective weapon, for even the stone wall of stupidity will yield to sufficient pressure.

I am not forgetting our mercies, labeled facilities, or Sir Edward Grey’s speech; but I have heard of a trick played by ill-mannered boys. A tempting-looking parcel is thrown right in front of you. When you stoop to pick it up they pull a string which is invisible to you, and all you get for your pains is a crick in the back. We must cut that string! — Yours faithfully,

K. Harvey.