Alliance to hold
its congress in Amsterdam in June, 1908. It proved to be one of the
most brilliant and successful ever held and was enthusiastically
received by the press and the public. An active Men's League for Woman
Suffrage was formed.

From that time the question of woman suffrage was on a constantly
rising tide. A liberal Parliament had been elected and it was to
consider giving the vote to women. Appeals were made through the
members from the fifty branches of the association and through public
meetings and much outdoor propaganda was carried on in little boats.
There was no cessation of the work and as a result leaders of the four
political parties declared themselves in the Parliament in favor of
the enfranchisement of women, but in 1909 a Conservative Government
was elected and the revision was withdrawn. This year the Lutheran and
Mennonite churches gave women a vote on all matters. In 1913 the
Cabinet announced its own revision of the constitution. Early in 1914
the association memorialized the Premier and the Queen, sent letters
to all the electors and carried on the most strenuous work. Its
meetings in every town and city were crowded and in a short time a
petition signed by 165,000 women was presented to the Parliament. Then
the War broke forth and everything was at a standstill.

In 1915 the suffragists were roused by the announcement that the
constitution would positively be revised. In June they held a big
demonstration in Amsterdam, in which trade unions and political
parties participated. It was evident that the country was back of the
demand for woman suffrage. Although street processions were forbidden,
the burgomaster, a suffragist, allowed it. In The Hague a large one
took place in September, when the Parliament opened, the burgomaster
yielding to the entreaties of the women that if the Government was
going to bring in a new constitution in the midst of the War, which so
much concerned women, they should be allowed to express themselves. It
was preceded by an immense meeting and a resolution calling for woman
suffrage was passed; thousands of women massed in front of the
Parliament House and Dr. Jacobs and a deputation carried it in to the
Speaker, who promised to do all in his power for them. During all the
weeks while the discussion raged the members had to pass through two
rows of silent women wearing broad sashes with the name of the
association on them. Women filled the seats inside and