Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

THE MANUFACTURE OF MUSTARD AND STARCH. packages gives employment to thousands of men and boys, whether it be the “ penny tin ” or the large 400-gallon tanks. These are des- tined to be used as a water reser- vo i r upon an Australian sheep run or a South African farm, after being used for the convey- a n c e to the colonies of the huge supplies of mustard which are exported to Britons over sea. It is in this department that the division of labour reaches its highest development. In one battery of machines the tin plates are cut into strips, in another these strips are slid beneath punches which fabricate the lids 213 and bottoms of the tins, taking care in the process to impress the name of the manufacturer indelibly upon the metal. One machine turns the edges of the sides, another interlocks them, a third bends them into oblongs, rounds, or ovals, another fastens the bottom by a mighty squeeze, and an army of boys now take them in hand and fit the lids. Elsewhere a boy weighs out the condiment, and empties the scale into a tin held ready for him by a mate, who rams the contents with a rammer, and passes it on to another whose duty it is to place the lid upon it once more. The tin now reaches the past- ing table, where a boy spends his clays in pasting paper labels, which are placed roughly by another round the sides of the tin, and the finishing of this process by an older boy completes the tin as it is served to the thrifty customer in the grocer’s shop. The packing and manufacture of decorated tins and of the tubs in which “ loose ” mustard is supplied follow a similar course. At first sight it is difficult to understand why mustard manufacturers should occasion- ally combine with that industry the duty of providing their customers with starch as well. Few of the mechanical appliances required for the one are of use in the other branch, but the customers are to a large extent the same, and there is some economy of cost on that account. Be this as it may, the manufacture of starch holds an important place in the list of British industries, and gives employment to the sisters of the lads whose lives are spent in the health-giving occupation of fabricating kins of mustard. Forstarch packing is essentially woman’s work, after the first heavy processes have been com- pleted, and the story affords another example of the extraordinary lengths to which the specialisation of modern labour is carried. Before a penny box of starch can be placed upon the counter a hundred hands, each per- forming a separate duty, have been employed upon it. Starch is the heat-giving substance which forms a large percentage of most food-grains. It contributes 85 per cent, to the bulk of tapioca, 80 per cent, of rice, 70 per cent, of wheat, 65 per cent, of maize, and even 15 per cent, of the potato tuber. From the first of these arrowroot is made, from the third house- hold flour, from the second and fourth corn- flour ; but in commercial language the word starch is not applied to foodstuffs, being reserved for the forms of starch which are