Middlemen in English Business 263 



Merchants of the Staple for centuries. But the rise of the exotic 

 manufactures in the Isle curtailed this traffic, and England began 

 importing rather than exporting wool, except the clandestine smuggling 

 to France from the Romney Marsh and the Kentish coast. 



Wool Buyers. 



The protectionist policy prevailing in the Tudor period found one 

 expression, among innumerable others, in a statute,^ 1552, for the sup- 

 pression of middleman-buyers of wool, specifying in detail what per- 

 sons might buy and sell wool, and what persons were forbidden, and at 

 what times. The intent of this act was to force growers of wool to 

 sell their wool directly to the manufacturers and eliminate the wool 

 dealer. The \dew-point of the day is expressed by a later writer in 

 the following manner: "Here are a considerable Partv of Men that 

 flourish like Solomon's Lilies, that neither toyje nor spin, that only get 

 a Profit out of the Wool, and no way encourage the Woolen-Manu- 

 facture; but on the contrary, a pack of wool carried forty Miles back- 

 wards and forwards, will not make the more Cloth at the Journies 

 end, I wish I could say it would not make less."- In other words, the 

 middleman was quite often regarded as an unproductive being preying 

 upon the pubHc. 



The state and people found other objections to the woolmen's 

 business. The one complaint which has been perennial through the 

 centuries to the present time has been that middlemen raise prices. 

 It is supposed that each successive handler adds to the otherwise low 

 price the amount of his profit. Many direct complaints to this effect 

 might be cited. For one instance, in 1585, "a petition of the clothiers, 

 mostly of Suffolk, was presented to the go\'ernment against the activ- 

 ities of the licensed brokers, complaining that as their own capital was 

 not great they had to buy at second, third and fourth hand in the 

 latter end of the year at excessive prices."^ Another complaint was 

 to the effect that they bought wool, not only to sell to the clothier but 

 also for export, and the English clothier held that he had a first claim 

 or exclusi\e right to English raw material.^ As late as 1697 the Kidder- 

 minster clothiers were aggrie\'ed by the wool-broggers who were taking 



' 5 and d Ed. VI, Cap.- 7. For earlier statute 1464, sec Slat. Realm (rec. Com. J 

 II, 410. See also IV, 141, and 22 Hen. VIII, Cap. 1. 

 '-"Clothiers Complaint," 26. 

 •' Lansd. MS. 48 fol. 67; V. C. H., Sufi". II, 258. 

 'S. P. Dom., Eliz. CXV, 41; V. C. H.. SulT. II, 258. 



