<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2008-09-06</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B080721.pdcc.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B02236">
<STC T="W">C4733</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">52211989</BIBNO>
<VID>175581</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 19 -->
<HEAD>The Clothiers CASE truly Stated, <HI>With an An&s;wer to the REASONS again&s;t the Bill for the Encouragement of the VVoollen|Manufacture, Humbly offered to the Parliament.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THE Clothier is brought under a Nece&s;&s;ity of employing a Factor or a Packer in the Sale of his Cloth in the City of <HI>London;</HI> the Sale of Merchants Cloth being wholly drawn from the Publick Market of <HI>Blackwell-Hall</HI> into private Hou&s;es: And all the Windows of the &s;aid Hall are taken up by Factors, that the Clothier hath no convenient place to &s;hew or &s;ell his Cloth to Woollen-Dra|pers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>This Alteration in Trade hath brought on a long Credit with Cloth, &s;ix Months, nine, and twelve Months, hath impoveri&s;hed the Clothiers in twenty or thirty Years above &s;ixty thou&s;and Pounds in Lo&s;&s;es, by broken Factors, hath occa&s;ioned three times that Value in bad Debts from Buyers of Cloth; the Price of Cloth hath been brought down from nine Shillings a Yard to &s;ix; which hath had as proportionable Effect upon the Price of Wooll, and con&s;equently upon Land: This long Credit hath likewi&s;e nece&s;&s;itated the Clothiers to pay their Work-People with Commodities; which hath impoveri&s;hed the Manufacturers &s;o far, that many Pari&s;hes now pay three times as much to the Relief of their Poor as was paid twenty or thirty years &s;ince; which is well known to Gentlemen that live in Clothing Parts.</P>
<P>As Cloth is now &s;old by Factors and Packers, who act for the Intere&s;t of the Merchant, they may as ea&s;ily get a greater Share of the Country-Gentleman's E&s;tate, and bring down the Price of Wooll to twelve Shillings a Tod.</P>
<P>If the Merchant had not an advantage by the Sale of Cloth in private Hou&s;es, he would &s;oon find out the Clo|thier, and encourage the publick Market of <HI>Blackwell-Hall,</HI> where all Cloth ought to be brought, and there &s;old.</P>
<P>The De&s;ign of the fir&s;t Paragraph of the Bill is to prevent Deceit, that deceitful Cloth made of Pinions and Noyles, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> &s;hould not be &s;old for Cloth made of perfect Fleece-Wooll; and &s;ince it is not ea&s;ie to know it, the marking of &s;uch Cloth is as rea&s;onable as that of Plate.</P>
<P>If &s;uch Cloth be mark'd, it doth not follow that it will be unvendable, as is alledged, no more than the wor&s;t &s;ort of <HI>Colche&s;ter</HI> Bays, call'd Cutts, and Rents, are le&s;s vendable than the be&s;t, called Crown-Bays, tho at a le&s;s Price; 'tis rea&s;onable as well as ju&s;t, that Cloth &s;hould be &s;old according to its real Goodne&s;s.</P>
<P>The Bill giveth a Permi&s;&s;ion to make broad Woollen-Cloth of Pinions, or Noyles, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> with a di&s;tinction; which by the 21 of <HI>Jac.</HI> 1. <HI>ch.</HI> 18. now in force, is wholly prohibited under the Forfeiture of five Pounds for every &s;uch Cloth, and a larger Power given to Churchwardens and Over&s;eers by the &s;aid Act than by the Bill.</P>
<P>Was the Proof of Pinion Cloth truly examined among&s;t our Soldiery, who now wear too much of it, there would be need of no more Argument to mark it.</P>
<P>Lambs-Wooll, and Vell-Wooll, which is likewi&s;e prohibited by the &s;aid Act, is u&s;ually &s;old for Flannels and Stockins, and more proper than for Broad-Cloth.</P>
<P>It is not the De&s;ign of the Clothiers of <HI>Gloce&s;ter&s;hire</HI> to get the Bill pa&s;s by Surprize, it being the Sen&s;e of much the greater number of Clothiers of the other Counties.</P>
<P>The <HI>Blackwell-Hall</HI> Factors are the Clothiers Servants, they paying them, and all the Duties of the Hall: If they think it not convenient to employ them, 'tis as rea&s;onable for them to turn them off as any other Ma&s;ter their Ser|vants; and the Rights and Priviledges of <HI>Engli&s;hmen</HI> will not be de&s;troyed thereby: But it will be very hard to ne|ce&s;&s;itate a Ma&s;ter to keep his Servant that he thinks not proper for him, and is richer than him&s;elf, which is the Clo|thiers Ca&s;e.</P>
<P>The Bill provides to &s;end up Factors out of the Country, (where there is occa&s;ion) that may be more under their Management than the pre&s;ent Factors who are become their Ma&s;ters: So that there will be <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="damage" EXTENT="1 word"> inconveniency to Clo|thiers that live remote from <HI>London,</HI> and may think Factors nece&s;&s;ary for the Management of their Trades.</P>
<P>The <HI>Gloce&s;ter&s;hire</HI> Clothiers have a place to unload their Cloth, but the Windows, and mo&s;t convenient places are taken up by Factors.</P>
<P>The marking of Broad Cloth with the Letters <FIGURE REND="inline">
<FIGDESC>monogram of 'W' (William) superimposed on 'M' (Mary)</FIGDESC>
</FIGURE> crown'd, is to &s;hew that the &s;ame is made of perfect Fleece|Wooll, as it was done in the Reigns of <HI>Edward</HI> the Sixth and others; &s;o no new thing.</P>
<P>It was u&s;ual formerly for Clothiers to have a particular Mark (as the Law requires) when they made good Cloth; but &s;ince this deceitful Cloth hath been made, Marks have been alter'd to put it off.</P>
<P>The Statute-book is full of the Lengths and Breadths of Cloth, which hath many times been alter'd. The Lengths propos'd in the Bill relates to Long-Cloths, and not Short-Cloths, and &s;o will not affect tho&s;e places mentio|ned in the Rea&s;ons again&s;t the Bill.</P>
<P>'Tis very evident, That the Rents of Land is very much fallen within the&s;e forty Years; at which time the Sale of Cloth by Factors, as well as Fat Cattle and Sheep was very rate, or &s;carce known in the City of <HI>London.</HI></P>
<P>It &s;eems rea&s;onable at this time, when Taxes are &s;o great (though nece&s;&s;ary for our Defence) to enquire into the Cau&s;es of the decay of the Clothing-Trade.</P>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
