The women are heads of families, they pay rent and taxes, just as the men. All their conditions of livelihood are as dependent upon the laws as are those of the men. A _liberal_ government and _liberal_ members of Parliament ought to be liberal towards women and grant them the suffrage. Many of these ministers and many members of Parliament owe their political careers, their election, and their influence to the practical campaign activities of women or to the woman's suffrage movement, which they supported in order to enlarge their political influence. They have made use of the woman's suffrage movement and now wish to do nothing in return. The fate of all woman's suffrage bills introduced since 1870 (13 in number) proves that it is hopeless to have such bills introduced by private members. _Women must turn their hopes to a bill introduced by the government._ The present Liberal government needs only to treat the matter seriously; then a woman's suffrage bill will be passed. But the government has not treated the matter seriously; hence the suffragettes have declared war. It is their determination to fight every ministry which is not kindly disposed toward the suffrage movement. The struggle is carried on by the following means: organization of societies; meetings throughout the country; street parades and open air meetings (especially significant are those of June 13 and 21, 1908); the employment of first-class speakers, who make concise, clear, ingenious, and stirring speeches; the raising of large sums of money (20,000 pounds, _i.e._ $100,000 annually; there is a reserve fund of 50,000 pounds, _i.e._ $250,000); the publication of a well-managed periodical, _Votes for Women_.[35] The leaders are Mrs. and Miss Pankhurst, Mrs. Drummond, Annie Kenney, Mr. and Mrs. Pethick Lawrence. These and the most determined of their associates undertake to send deputations to the Liberal Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith, and to ask the question in all public meetings in which members of the Cabinet speak,--when will you give women the right to vote? The deputations go to Parliament _because women, as taxpayers, have the right to speak to the Prime Minister_, who continually receives deputations of men. Since the Prime Minister does not wish to grant women the right to vote, the deputations of women are prevented from entering the Houses of Parliament by strong squads of police, both mounted and on foot; and if the women do not desist from their attempt to make known to the Prime Minister the resolutions of their meeting, they are arrested for the disturbance of the peace, the interruption of traffic, or the instigation of tumult and riot; they are arraigned in the _police court_ and are sentenced to imprisonment in the ordinary prisons. The Liberal government stubbornly refuses to regard these women as political offenders and to punish them as such.