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<DATE>2014-10-09</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>TCP Staff (Michigan)</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140631.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B09869">
<STC T="W">R988a</STC>
<STC T="C">R182623</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">[ocm]80923465</BIBNO>
<VID>191978</VID>
</IDG>
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<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>A REMONSTRANCE of all the SHOEMAKERS Of <HI>LONDON</HI> and el&s;ewhere, that are again&s;t Tran&s;porting, Fore|&s;talling and Ingro&s;&s;ing of LEATHER;</HEAD>
<P>_Which doth plainly and perfectly &s;hew the rea&s;on why Leather is &s;o exce&s;&s;ive dear, and &s;o un&s;erviceable for the u&s;e of the Common-wealth: the abu&s;e is wholly occa&s;ioned by the Leather-&s;ellers, &s;ome Curriers, &s;ome Coblers, Taylors, Weavers, Button-makers, Broakers, Black-&s;miths, Chandlers, Tap&s;ters, and that which is wor&s;t of all, &s;ome Shoe-makers, &s;ome of them have left off the Trade and will not work, but &s;corns to work, and are become &s;ole Merchants of Leather onely, that do buy up all the Leather in &s;ome Country Fairs without Comptroule, bragging and boa&s;ting the Law can take no hold on them, and they convey what they li&s;t beyond Sea, and the re&s;t they keep at home, in their Shops and Cellars, and there &s;ell it at their own Rates, and are grown to &s;uch a Head, that it is in vain for any Shoe-maker to go to any Fair or Market with a &s;mall quantity of money, but he mu&s;t be forc'd to come and buy of them; they fore&s;talling, and ingro&s;&s;ing the greate&s;t part of the Leather in the whole King|dome into their own hands: In&s;omuch that if any of the&s;e people before mentioned, do come into any Fair or Market, the be&s;t and able&s;t Shoe-Maker in all <HI>England</HI> mu&s;t &s;tand off untill they be &s;erved, or el&s;e out-prize them, which is de&s;tructive to the Com|mon-wealth: likewi&s;e &s;ome of them do keep ten or twelve Shops a piece, others three or four Shops or Cellars, planting both City and Suburbs and Country over; and &s;ome of them do return one hundred pounds a week in one Shop; then con&s;ider how much the whole Kingdome is prejudiced by the&s;e Pur&s;e proud people. Fir&s;t, becau&s;e they fore&s;tall and ingro&s;s and enhance the price. Secondly becau&s;e they tran&s;port, or &s;ell Leather to Merchants, that do tran&s;port. Thirdly, becau&s;e they buy up &s;o much Leather in Inns, and Tanners yards, which is raked and &s;haved and ha&s;tened in the Tanning, that it is &s;carce halfe tanned, that &s;ucks water like a Spunge; that people can never go dry on their feet; and Shoes made of &s;uch Leather breaks out of the &s;ides, before they be halfe worn. And la&s;tly, con&s;ider how many hundred of poor Shoe-makers all <HI>England</HI> over, are tyed up from their proper Rights and freedome of buying Leather at the be&s;t hand of the Tanner, but are kept under and forc'd to buy of them, that they get the gain of all that poor Men labour for; and put Chance, if any Man get a poor Livelihood by his Trade, it mu&s;t be by working &s;uch &s;tuff as is not &s;erviceable for the wearer, or if he puts in good &s;tuff, he mu&s;t exact an unrea&s;onable price upon the Cu&s;tomers, they getting all the gains to them&s;elves as afore&s;aid; and no Remedy for it, &s;o long as the Curriers and Lea|ther &s;ellers, and Leather Cutters, as they are &s;o called, are &s;uffered to buy Leather, and fell, as they do, and neither can nor do convert the &s;ame Leather into made Wares: There was a Statute made in the fir&s;t year of the Raign of King <HI>James,</HI> and the two and twentieth Chapter which is yet in force, That no Per&s;on or Per&s;ons &s;hall buy, &s;ell, bargain, be&s;peak or take, promi&s;e, to have, exchange or put away any Tanned Leather not wrought, and converted into made Wares, but only &s;uch Per&s;on or Per&s;ons, as will and &s;hall work and convert the &s;ame Leather into made Wares, upon pain of forfeiture of the Leather &s;o bought, &s;ould, exchanged or put away, or the value thereof. But alas, Information can do no good in &s;uch ca&s;es, and they are counted odious in mo&s;t places where ever they come, though their cau&s;e be never &s;o good, nor hardly any Jury will allot them any thing, to the great di&s;couragement and utter ruine of his Maje&s;ties &s;ubjects, and the King deprived of his ju&s;t Revenues; Therefore let us all Petition to the Kings mo&s;t excellent Maje&s;tie, and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons A&s;-&s;embled in Parliament: to take it into their &s;erious Con&s;ideration, they being in part &s;ufferers by the dearne&s;s and badne&s;s of Leather, that they &s;tand up for the pro&s;perity of the Land of their Nativity; and to grant a Seizure to take away from all un|lawfull buyers that cannot work and convert the &s;ame Leather into made Wares, and to &s;et &s;uch a Fine on the heads of tho&s;e shoe-makers that may buy Leather lawfully, and yet &s;ell it again Red as it came from the Tanners, as to their grave wi&s;domes &s;hall think fit&punc; and that it may be lawfull for any of his Maje&s;ties good &s;ubjects to be Seizures, and that it may not be involved to &s;ome partic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">lar Mens hands, who may &s;om<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">mes happen to be offenders them&s;elves, or through Friend&s;hip or Bribery, they will not do their Office.</P>
<P><HI>And this Reque&s;t of theirs being granted, the,</HI> Peti|tioners, <HI>as in duty bound, &s;hall ever pray,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
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