Mrs. [Emma] Sproson said she had only been a week out of Stafford County
Prison, where she had served seven days in the third division for refusing to
pay her dog-license. Since then, three other summonses had also been served
for the same reason — one upon her husband for “aiding and abetting.” This
was very serious indeed. If the decision went against Mr. Sproson it would
establish the principle that a wife could not keep even a cat without the
consent of her husband. Whatever happened the speaker was determined not to
let either the police or the Government get the better of her. There were
times when militancy was absolutely necessary. Tax resistance was a splendid
form of protest when the person who resisted had no goods that could be
distrained upon. There was nothing for it but to put that person into prison.
This placed the Government in a very awkward position. Public sympathy was
always with the person who refused to pay taxes as a matter of principle, and
the Government, in sending that person to prison, was regarded as an
aggressor. There were those who considered that suffragists were prepared to
go too far in their determination to obtain that for which they were
fighting. But true reformers were willing to sacrifice everything for the
sake of a principle; it was the false reformer who considered that there were
limits to sacrifice.
Mrs. [Margaret] Nevinson said when they were at school they were taught that
freedom had been won for England by such men as Hampden, who had resisted the
payment of ship-money. There was, however, no freedom for women.…
Tax Resistance in Wolverhampton
“Love me, love my dog,” is an adage which we are not sure a wife is entitled
to use. When the authorities — the Wolverhampton police — first enquired into
the ownership of my dog, my husband repudiated all claim; consequently, in
default of taking out a license, I was committed to prison and served seven
days in the third division. On my release I made known my intention of
continuing to refuse to take out a license. The police are trying to assert
their authority, and on Friday last served me with three summonses — one for
keeping a dog without a license, a second for keeping a ferocious dog, and a
third for keeping a ferocious dog without proper control; and a fourth was
served on Mr. Sproson “for aiding, abetting and procuring one Emma Sproson to
keep a dog without a license.”
The first charge is the same as the one for which I have already served seven
days, thereby causing the authorities to assert that I was the responsible
individual; the second and third are the grossest possible libel on poor
“Gip,” and are brought forward as a means of hampering my protest.
The fourth is one which we as suffragists need to enquire into with the most
careful consideration. The police see that nothing can be got from me except
such suffering as they shall impose on my person. The public support I have
received has evidently only had the effect of making the police determined to
stop me somehow. So the musty old law of coverture has been brought into
action. Under this law they say the husband can be coerced against his will
into responsibility for the action of his wife. He has distrainable goods,
and these can be seized until he cannot resist the power of the law any
longer. Whether the authorities know quite well where they stand remains to
be seen.
Their position may be made more clear to my readers than it is to themselves
by the following questions which were put to me by Mr. Sproson:— If I took
out a license without any regard to your opinions, what would you do? I
replied that I should get another dog. If I killed your dog, what then? I
replied that I should get another dog. If I told you you must discontinue
keeping a dog or leave my roof, what should you do? I replied — I should
leave your roof, and I should cease to regard you as a husband and consider
you a tyrant.
So the wise men of Wolverhampton have to decide whether a husband has the
right to turn his wife from his house or to act as though she is a
responsible human being who ought to have the same human rights as himself.
Many of my critics will say — it is pushing a protest to extremes to appear
to think more of a dog than of a husband, home and children. But I reply it
is a principle that is at stake. I once learnt a lesson which struck root
right down into my nature, as Ibsen puts it, and this is that the worship of
one fragment of the golden calf is as much idolatry as the worship of the
whole calf. There are many reformers — too many, perhaps — and what
differentiates the true reformer from the false is the true sacrifices — all
if need be not caring for consequences — the false always have their limit.
Emma Sproson.
