An essay on wool and wollen manufacture for the improvement of trade, to the benefit of landlords, feeders of sheep, clothiers, and merchands, in a letter to a member of Parliament. Child, Josiah, Sir, 1630-1699. 1693 Approx. 28 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 11 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-05 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A32829 Wing C3856 ESTC R23526 12072032 ocm 12072032 53499 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A32829) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 53499) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 864:5) An essay on wool and wollen manufacture for the improvement of trade, to the benefit of landlords, feeders of sheep, clothiers, and merchands, in a letter to a member of Parliament. Child, Josiah, Sir, 1630-1699. [2], 18 p. Printed for Henry Bonwicke ..., London : 1693. Reproduction of original in the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign Campus). Library. Attributed to Sir Josiah Child. cf. NUC pre-1956. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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LONDON : Printed for Henry Bonwicke , at the Red Lyon , in St. Paul's Church-yard . 1693. AN ESSAY ON WOOL , AND Woollen MANUFACTURE . FOrasmuch as Wool and Woollen Manufacture , is of very great Concern to every Landed Man , and that your Honour is no less desirous to joyn in such Measures , as may conduce to the Benefit of the Nation in general , and that place for which you serve in particular , as of your own Estate , I hope with all humility , that you will entertain this Paper with the same Candour , wherewith you have always accepted my Labours for the Publick ; and the rather , because your Honour will easily believe , that I have no Private Interest to serve , in relation to this Subject . It hath been observed by Men of the greatest Experience , that the Undervaluation of English Commodities abroad , hath been the first and most considerable detriment we have suffered in our Forreign Dealings . And altho' at first the Dutch and the Easterlings did all they could to raise the Price of our Woollen Manufacture , to the end , that they might the better sell their own , yet having now established their own to a great and dangerous degree , they begin to run down our Cloth , as fast as before they hoisted it up , and care not how cheap we sell , provided they can assign for the Cause of that Cheapness , the false making of our Cloth of late , and the exacter care that Forreign Manufactors take , for the Accusation now is not , that our Cloth is dear , but false made . And it appears , not only by the Confession , but by the Complaint of our Clothiers in general , that this suggestion of Forreign Dealers hath but too much ground ; they complain very justly , That Dutch Chapmen , and private Merchants , who have of late Years exported our Cloth , having not been able to give the full Price , have had great Quantities of Cloth made to that Price that they can afford to give , and tho' the honest Clothier doth make such bad Ware with great regret , yet he is forced to make such as he can vend , since the Societies of Merchants , who always gave a good Price ( for which they had such Ware as Forreign Manufactors cannot imitate ) do now buy very little , being under-sold abroad by petty Chap-men , who , of late Years , have forced a Trade . This sudden and unnatural Trade hath for divers times been experimented , to make the Price of Wool for a while rise ; for that low Price , at which Foreign-Merchants have set this false-made Cloth , hath caused many Buyers abroad , to take advantage of that cheap Opportunity of stocking themselves with English Drapery ; and such a Trade hath lasted for Three or Four years , whereby much Wool hath been here manufactured , and the Price of Wool accordingly raised ; but at length , when the Baseness of this Manufacture hath been discovered , and the Markets abroad clogg'd , as sudden a Fall of Wool must in all likelihood be expected to have ensued , and by this Opportunity the Value of foreign made Cloth hath been raised , our Cloth discredited , Merchants of Societies discourag'd , Clothiers had little to do , Growers to pay , and Landlords to receive . So that with Submission it seems absolutely necessary to the Good of this Kingdom , I. That our Woollen Manufacture be raised to its former Credit and Esteem abroad . II. That the Ballance of Trade be set evener , and and that neither too much nor too little be every year exported . III. That it may be put not only into a flourishing , but into a lasting state . For , First , If the Price of our Cloth be low abroad , 't is impossible that Wool should continue to bear a good Price at home : If Cloth falls , the Material 't is made of must fall with it , and consequently the Labours of the Card-makers , Breakers , Combers , Carders , Spinners , Weavers , Fullers , Shearmen , Clothiers , Dyers , Cloth workers , Packers , &c. must be beat down , if these be discourag'd , we must more and more lose our Manufacture , for who will breed up their Children to a discourag'd Trade ? And in the end we shall as effectually lose it as the Dutch have already gained it . Secondly , If the Ballance of Trade be not kept even , not only in reference to Goods exported and imported , which the Foreigner never observes , but in reference likewise to Foreign Markets , that one be not over-clogg'd with that Commodity which another wants , and that Times and Seasons be duly observ'd , we shall put the Chapmen abroad , that are to take off our Cloth to such Uncertainties , that there will be no dealing with us , for they will find in many places , that private Merchants have supply'd those Retailers , whom they used to furnish , they 'll find Cloath cheap where they expect it to be dear ; so that they cannot sell , and Cloth dear where they expect it to be cheap , so that they cannot buy ; so when they buy , it shall be Dutch Cloth , and when they sell ours , it shall be for what they can get . Thirdly , 'T is of no advantage to the Nation to have a Fit of good Trading , if it cannot continue ; nay , in this Instance of Woollen Manufacture it is injurious ; for if a Purchaser buys Land , or a Tenant takes a Lease , or a Grower encreases his Stock , upon the consideration of Wools bearing such a Price , each one of these is a Loser when it falls . And so if the Clothier encreases his Number of Apprentices , Looms , Stock , and the like , upon a false Supposition , he is like to be ruined . The Condition things are in at present is not only to be minded , but that which they must necessarily be in hereafter . Wherefore 't is humbly propos'd , in the first place , I. That Care be taken , that our Cloth be made so good , that it shall bear a considerable Price abroad , and yet be cheaper to the Buyer than foreign-made Cloth ; for if at the same time it be not cheaper in proportion to the Goodness than Dutch-made Cloth , 't is impossible that we can keep the Trade from them . 'T is natural for every Man to make the most of his Penny , and since our Growers and Clothiers cannot live upon their Profession , at the price of Cloth which the Dutch do now afford it at , we must make our Cloth truer and better than they do to outsell them . For though the Wool be of our own growth , and Fuller's-Earth peculiar to us , yet they have so many ways of getting the former , and so much Store have they got from us of the latter , that they can continue the Manufacture many years without us . And if inferior Workmen with them are to be had so much cheaper than with us , the Advantages of our Native Commodities do but little more than compensate for the dearness of our Workmen . But something they do , and something we surpass them when we please in Workmanship , to which if a little good Policy and State-Encouragement were added , we may still retrieve a Languishing Trade , by suffering no Cloth to go out of England , but of such a standard Goodness , according to such and such Marks . II. Secondly , That our Cloth-Trade may be divided all over the World , into particular Cantons proportioned and ballanc'd , as may seem best upon due Information , to the Wisdom of Parliament , who may perhaps think fit to constitute of their own Members an Annual Committee , with fixed Allowances and Pensions out of a publick Bank , who may alter and rectifie the Proportions of each English Corporation of Merchants , and place of foreign Sale , according as Times and Occasions alter . III. Thirdly , That such a certain and definite number of Cloths be every year exported necessarily , without any abatement for any pretended Contingencies , as may keep the Price of Wool , and the Manufacture of it to such a height , as that the Clothier shall know it his Interest to make so many more Cloths than now he doth ; the Grower to encrease his Stock of Sheep , and the Landlord to raise his Rent and Value of Land. Concerning the first of these three Proposals , divers Acts of Parliament are still in force , which may be revived and amended as may seem good to the Legislative Powers ; the other two are liable , so far as I can see , to no Difficulties and Objections , but what may be obviated by this Method , viz. There being so many Societies of English Merchants exporting our Woollen Manufacture to foreign parts , they may be obliged , coming under such Regulations as the Parliament shall think fit , to export every Year each Company such a proportion of Cloth as altogether may leave us but bare enough for our own use , and that at a round price . Thus supposing the Cloth-trading Merchants to be the Merchant-Adventurers , the Turky Company , the East-India Company , the Eastland Company , the Hudson's-Bay Company , the Russia Company , the African Company . And suppose there be , in all England and Wales , ( according to the ingenious and accurate Mr Houghton ) 39938500 Acres of Land , and one Third part of it unfit for feeding of Sheep , as Woods , Parks , Fens , Mine-pits , &c. or otherwise employ'd ; and that one Sixth-part of the Remainder be good Meadow ; and such Land as will maintain two Sheep on an Acre ; and that all the rest be plow'd Land , barren Downs ; Wasts , Commons , Orchards , and the like ; which may , one with another , maintain one Sheep on an Acre , this will amount to 31063257 Sheep in the whole Nation : Allow then 75 Fleeces to a Pack of Wool , there will be 414176 Packs . One Pack weighing 240 l. all Detriments , Wast and Tare rebated , will make Three Pieces of Broad-Cloth , Thirty Yards to a Piece ; and if we make yearly in all England 150000 Broad-Cloths , they are supposed to take up 50000 Packs of our Wool , and of the Spanish Wool imported , we may , at the most , reckon Ten thousand Cloths more ; in all 160000. One Pack of Wool will make likewise six Pieces of lesser Drapery , as Kerseys , Bays , Flannel , Serges , Perpetuano's , Says , Frise , and the like , one with another of thirty Yards a Piece ; and , I recken , that we make 1600000 of these lesser Draperies , ( I may call 'em altogether ) yearly , which will spend 266666 Packs , their 's 316666 Packs disposed of ; and suppose such Uses as shall be hereafter mention'd , to take up the remaining 97510 Packs , here 's the whole Product of Wool in the Land , which by the former Computation of Acres , amounts to 99402240 Pound . Grant then , that in England there be 7000000 of Men , Women , and Children , of which 1000000 to be Infants , and their Wear not reckon'd , Two Millions more to wear old and patch'd Cloaths , Lindseywoolsie , and the like , and but One in Seven to wear Broad-Cloth , and no more each than three Yards a piece for a whole Year , this amounts to 100000 Cloths : And that Three more in the Seven wear only lesser Drapery , and but 5 Yards each to a Year's Wear , ( which in Norwich , and such-like Stuffs , will not go far ) this comes to 500000 Pieces ; then to every Piece of Cloth , allow one Piece of Stuffs in Linings , Wastcoats , Breeches , &c. and we have but 1000000 of lesser Drapery , and Sixty thousand Cloths yearly to Export . Then for 97510 Packs of Wool remaining , allow to every one of the Six Millions , One pair of Stockins a Year , and Four pair to a pound of Wool , and a quarter as many exported , amount to 25000 Packs ; then for Hats , that of Three Millions , each wears one Hat in two Years , and four Hats to one Pound of Wool , amounts to Five thousand Packs more . Upholsterers Ware , as Blankets , Curtains , Hangings , Skreens , Linings of Coaches , Chairs , and the like , to be a quarter-part of the Stuffs that are made , spends Fifty thousand Packs ; and if one thirtieth part of our Wool be put to such Uses as are here omitted , and otherwise wasted in dressing and working it , what 's left will be too little for burying Shrouds , and other Funeral Occasions . And now we have none left but what is to be Exported , viz. Sixty thousand Cloths , and One Million of lesser Drapery . First then , The Merchant-Adventurers being restored by Queen Elizabeth , upon the Petitions of the Growers and Clothiers , to all those Priviledges , which in the Twenty-ninth Year of Her Reign they had been deprived of , flourished so , that about the Year 1600 , they Exported Sixty thousand White Cloths , besides all manner of Stuffs every Year , the White Cloths alone valued at 600000 l. Forty Years after they Exported about 50000 Broad Cloths , 1000 Bays , and 20000 Stuffs a Year : And the Reason they give , why of late they have not Exported a quarter so many Broad-Cloths , and little more than half so many Stuffs , is , that Forreigners who understand not the Trade , have brought Quantities of false made Cloth here , and Exported it , and not only glutted and mistimed Forreign Markets , but brought the Commodity into disesteem . Now if the Wisdom of the Parliament shall think fit to put a stop to that private Trade , and restore the Merchants to their former State , they cannot think themselves ill used , if it be upon Condition . That they every Year Export Fifteen thousand Broad-Cloths ; and seeing the Stuff-Trade , and especially of new Draperies , is quicker of the two , 250000 of them . The Turkey-Company may likewise be obliged to Export yearly Twenty eight thousand Broad-Cloaths , and Five thousand Stuffs . The East-India Company Five thousand Broad-Cloths , and 45 thousand Stuffs . The East-land Company Three thousand Cloths , and Ten thousand Stuffs . The Hudson-Bay Company Five hundred Cloths . The Russia Company Four thousand Cloths , and Four thousand Stuffs . The African Company One hundred and forty thousand Stuffs . So that now we have but Four thousand five hundred Broad-Cloths , and Five hundred forty six thousand Stuffs remaining . And the Portuguezes , who would take off at least . Three hundred thousand Pound a Year in our Woollen Manufactures , if we would deal with 'em for Wine , do nevertheless take off about 180 thousand Stuffs a Year . Spain , about Two thousand Cloths , and Three hundred thousand Stuffs . Italy , Five hundred Cloths , and Forty thousand Stuffs . Barbary Six thousand Stuffs . The Western Plantations , Ten thousand Stuffs . Sweden , and Norway , Two thousand Cloths , and Ten thousand Stuffs ; without any Obligation , but the Necessity of their Trade . These Proportions I insist not upon , the Wisdom of Parliament will find out better . But if the Merchant-Adventurers , or any other Fraternity , shall , after the Proportion is set out , think themselves hardly dealt with , by being obliged so to increase their Dealings , they have a Remedy at hand , and can ease themselves , by enlarging their Company , and making more Members of it Free upon easie Terms . In King Iames the First 's time , they had Three thousand five hundred Freemen of that Company ; and since that , they have had Six thousand Free at a time : Now suppose they admit but Four thousand Freemen , and that but one quarter of these are Dealers , and that one with another , they Export each for himself , but Fifteen Cloths , and Two hundred and fifty Stuffs a Year , which is no great Merchandizing , it will do ; and accordingly the other Companies , if they think fit , may take the like Measures . I proceed therefore to the Advantages that we may expect to reap by such a Method . I. First , This will keep the Cloth-Trade altogether in the hands of the English ; I mean , the Profits of Trade in English Manufacture , in which Forreigners at present have too great a share , as English Merchants and Clothiers well know to their sorrow . II. There will be less Danger and Loss upon the Seas . Societies of Merchants trading in strong and well mann'd Vessels , and not adventuring , as petty Merchants do , without Convoys , to the enriching the Enemy , and impoverishing our selves . III. This will encourage the Building of great and able Ships , which may be of Service to the Publick in Times of Necessity : for Societies will not hazard so valuable a Commodity as Cloth , and in such great Parcels , as doubtless they will send out at a time , in ordinary Vessels : for one of the Mysteries of Merchandize , being the right timeing of Markets , they will not send over in Driblets , as independent Traders do , but send sufficient Quantities at a time , according to the Occasions and Fashions of the Places they deal with ; besides , their By-Laws oblige 'em to Export only in English Bottoms . IV. The Nation 's Credit abroad will by this means improve , and those Societies yearly bring to such and such Places , so great a quantity of our Manufacture , as will be a Security to any Town or State we deal with , and each Society will be more able upon any great Exigence , as by taking up Money , or engaging Themselves , and their Effects , for the Service of their Country , to do the Nation , especially in time of War , some signal Offices ; as the Merchant-Adventurers did , about the time of the Spanish Invasion . V. Exportation of , Manufactured Wool will be never attempted : for when the Manufacture is so much encourag'd , Wool will bear a better Price at home , than now it doth abroad ; here will be Ready Money without danger , and variety of Markets ; whereas the Exportors run great Risques , are forced to sell where they first Land , and sometimes , to take Words instead of Money . For , VI. The Price of Wool must necessarily rise and keep up , if every Year so much is Exported , as not to leave enough for our home use . VII . Our Cloth will bear a constant good Price abroad , when no body can much undersel another , because all Wares of such and such Marks , will be of like goodness , the Price at the first Penny will not be much different , the Charges and Hazards almost equal to every one , and no Merchant will be over or understock'd , to the unspeakable undervaluation of our Ware. VIII . 'T will prevent our Clothiers , and other Manufactors , transporting themselves into Holland , to the irreparable damage of this Nation , as 140 Families did out of Norfolk and Suffolk , in the Years 1635 , 1636. and when Two or Three thousand of our English Clothiers settled themselves in the Palatinate . IX . The Orders for Overseeing and Sealing Cloth will be more strictly look'd after , by publick Officers ; and indeed every Member of these Societies : Whereas the Foreigner , looks no farther , than to get so many Yards overplus , in consideration of the want of Breadth ▪ and Goodness , provided he hath it at his own Terms , beating down by that means the Price of Cloth here , and underselling it abroad : So that the Retailers abroad , that buy it of us , do only look upon the Muster and Outside , and finding themselves afterwards cheated , they change their Chapmen , and deal with the Honester Dutch ; which might be prevented by Publick Officers , and a Publick Seal . X. This will make the Commodity more staple and more considerable all over the World ; whereas now the proffer'd Sale of it makes it contemptible , and they that accept the Bargain make good the Merchant's Proverb , That there is Twenty per Cent. difference between , Will you Buy , and Will you Sell. XI . Greater quantities of Cloth will be here made than now is , when the Clothiers are morally sure of a certain Market , and Ready-Mony before the Year goes about , and that make as much as they will , it shall be all taken off their Hands . These Benefits I have enumerated regard the Good of the Nation in general , and those belonging to the Merchant and Clothier in particular , are likewise worth consideration . For , 1. Wealthy Merchants will not be able to Engross so much the Trade to themselves as now they do , but every Member will have a Share in the Circulation proportionable to his Abilities . The Great Ones shall not have too much upon their Hands at a time , nor the lesser Merchants too little , but every one shall have so many Lots as his Trade requires , which may be known and attested by Certificates from an English Publick Notary abroad , which will make every ones Factor industrious to drive as good and as speedy a Trade as he can . Nor will this be any Wrong to great Merchants , or exposing their Effects or Abilities , since every one hath Liberty to be of more than one Society , as we see divers Merchants belong at the same time both to the East-India and African Company , and so others . 2. Again , Young Traders would hereby have Assistance and Direction in their Dealings , and not be suffer'd to Ruine themselves , as they do , by wading out of their Depths . They would not find a way easily of Trading without a Stock , whereby they often ruine themselves and dishonour the Nation , it being a Reflection upon us abroad , that our Young Merchants engage themselves too deep , and when not governed by a Society too extravagantly : Young Merchants , and those that cry out so much for free Exportation , do often take up Goods upon Credit or Exchange to Ten or Twelve per Cent. Loss , and afterwards upon some sudden Pinch being forced to Sell , they undersell others to keep up their Credit , to the disparagement of our Commodities and ruine of themselves , as well by losing in the Cloth they sell , as buying Forreign Ware at too dear a rate , enhaunsing the Price of our Neighbor's Commodities , and lessening that of our own , to make quick Return . So the Merchants of York , Hull , and Newcastle send young men over with their Cloth ( too young indeed to deal with Hollanders , Hans-towns , and Iews ) who having engaged themselves to relade their Ships at a certain day with Foreign Ware , before they can sell their Cloth they buy of Foreigners upon Credit , and having a Day of Payment set , are forced , be the Market how it will , to sell their Cloth at any rate , to keep up their Credit ; which wild way of Traffick makes the Price of Cloth so uncertain to Foreigners , that the Retailer knows not when and how to buy , and so grows weary of the Trade . 3. This will be a Means to hinder the raising of Tolls and Imports abroad , each Company having Influence and Authority where they reside , especially in such a Town as Hamburgh , where the Trade hath maintain'd 20000 Persons at a time ; and be able likewise to contravene all fraudulent Dealings and Combinations against the Trade . 4. This will not only keep up , but encrease the number of Publick Places of Sale abroad , where our Cloth is exposed in an open Market , and all the Sellers are obliged to attend with great Plenty and Variety ; which Method is known by long Experience to forward the Sale of any Ware : And such publick Places and Markets can no more be settled abroad by Private Dealers , than it could be practis'd here at home by Foreigners , who though they had upon mis-information of Queen Elizabeths Council , the George in King-street , Westminster , assigned them for a publick place of Trade , yet could never bring one Waggon-load of Clothes to be unloaded there : And if under the notion of Buyers , People in a foreign Country cannot without being incorporated make a Publick Place of Trade , much less can they under the Notion of Sellers . Beside that , publick Places of Sale are more for the Honour of the Commodity , and of the Merchant , than private bartering and pedling up and down , as those stragling Merchants did in the year 1565 , who went up and down at Narve in Lisland , with English Cloth under their Arms , and a Measure in their Hands , bringing the noblest Commodity of England into the greatest Contempt . But most Advantage of all will by this means accrue to the Clothier , and by consequence to the Grower ; for there will be so current a Price , and such certain Dealings for this Staple Commodity , that Broakers , Wool-Iobbers , and the like , will not henceforth eat out the Clothiers Profit , ( a great cause of the dearness of Manufacture in England ) but the Merchant and Draper will be forced to employ Factors to go about the Country , and buy Cloth at the Clothiers home , paying ready Money : At least the Clothiers bringing their Cloths to Market every week , will find Customers enough : So the poorest Clothiers , which have but a little Stock , may Trade for themselves , which now they cannot do . I could enumerate many more Conveniencies both National and Particular ; As , That it would be a means to prevent the King 's being defrauded in his Customs . That Taxes upon Stock and Effects may hereby be more easily laid . That Trade will be judiciously varied according to Emergencies and Alterations abroad . There will be less quarreling with our Merchants about Tare and Rebatements . This will raise the Price of Corn throughout the Nation ; for Wool keeping hereby certainly to a round price , Stock will be encreased , and a great deal of Land laid down in Pasture , so that there will be less Corn-Land , and less Corn sowed . But what I have said may perhaps suffice to satisfie your Honour , That however I succeed , I think it my Duty to study the good of my Country . I will not now trouble your Honour with an Account of the great Damages this Nation sustains , by the Exportation of that which is not full Manufactured , I leave that to another Hand . I am , &c. FINIS .