Middlemen in English Business 311 



the countty draper was to a considerable degree limited rather to 

 sub-distribution from London, than doing an independent business. 



The draper or wholesale merchant employed agents known as 

 "bagmen" — ^the progenitors of our "commercial travellers." This 

 "rider" or "bagman" carried his samples in a small box with a handle 

 in the lid w^hich he placed under the seat of his gig or strapped to his 

 saddle. He drove from town to town. Some merchants did their own 

 travelling and in their own carriages. Ruskin's father was a merchant 

 who did this. After the stage-coach became common the bagman 

 ceased u^ing his own vehicle and horse and used the stage-coach. 

 The bagman of those days was as great a boon to the inn-business as 

 the commercial traveller of these days is.^ 



Since the woolens draper represents the t\'pical wholesaler it is 

 proper to consider his ofi&ce in trade and commerce.' In the first 

 instance, the draper was capitalist and speculator. His business 

 required "a considerable Stock of Ready Money and Credit."^ He 

 bought and carried in stock a large volume of goods. Besides it was 

 a great advantage to buy from a wholesaler rather than a manufac- 

 turer for the reason that he was freer in extending credit to his cus- 

 tomers,"* because the manufacturer dealt with laborers who required 

 regularly and immediately their wages in current cash. Beginners 

 especially found it advantageous to cultivate a credit with a whole- 

 saler by being a regular customer, since in times of financial straits or of 

 dearth of goods the wholesaler would support them as customers more 

 readily than as occasional buyers. 



The retailer realized further benefits in the wholesaler. Being a 

 buyer in gross and large voliime, the wholesaler's custom was of more 

 importance to the manufacturer than the petty custom of a retailer, 

 and greater effort would be made to retain his patronage; as a conse- 

 quence, the wholesaler procured a better quality of goods than the 

 retailer could directly.^ The large stock of goods carried constituted 

 a better assortment, from which the retailer could select his purchases, 

 than any manufacturer could offer. For the most part, it was not 

 convenient for the retailer to leave his shop to do his buying, and he 

 did it through the agents of the wholesaler, or \isited his nearby ware- 



1 See description in Besant, Eighteenth Century London, 1 14. 

 -See a seventeenth centun- discussion in Sa\ary, Par. Negoc, II, 9i, 352, 353. 

 3 Campbell, II, 195. 

 ' Savary, Par. Negoc, II, 352. 



5 Drapers were used by the government to inspect the cloth. See Statutes of 

 the Realm (Rec. Com.), IV, 136. 



