The Food of the Gods Part 3

Down the station steps, and a few yards up the lane to the left, with a playing field on one side, and on the other a plantation of fir-trees almost hiding the red brick and timbered gables of the office buildings, and we have arrived at the factory lodge. Looking through the open door down a vista of archways bowered in clematis and climbing roses, with an alpine rock garden at each side of the broad walk, we might almost imagine ourselves to be at the entrance to some botanical gardens. But a glance at the thousands of check hooks covering the inner wall of the lodge informs us that more than 2,400 girls pa.s.s in and out every day. The men's lodge is at a separate gate.

Before entering the works, a few steps further along the road will give us some idea of the many advantages gained by moving the factory out into the country. Just opposite the lodge a sloping path leads to the cycle-house, where some 200 machines are stored during work hours.

Beyond this, in the middle of a flower garden, stands the Estate Office of the Bournville Village Trust, and in the background higher up a girls' pavilion can be seen through the trees. Behind it stretch asphalt tennis-courts and playing-fields, bordered by a belt of fine old trees, under whose shade wind pretty shrubbery walks lined with rustic seats. A pa.s.sage under the road leads straight from the works into these beautiful grounds, and on a summer's day few prettier sights could be found than the numbers of white-robed girls who stream across in the dinner-hour to revel in the sunshine of the open fields, or sit in groups beneath the shady trees, enjoying a picnic lunch. A little further along the road the trees and the rhododendron bushes sweep backwards, leaving an open s.p.a.ce, where a smooth lawn reaches to the front of a fine old mansion, for many years used as a home for some fifty of the work-girls whose own homes are at a distance, or who have no home at all. The fruit gardens and vineries belonging to "Bournville Hall" are used for the benefit of work-people who are ill.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Plate: Coronation Cricket Pavilion, Bournville.]

Turning back again, we find on the other side of the road a magnificent pavilion, the Coronation gift of the firm to their employees, which overlooks the broad level stretch of one of the finest cricket grounds in the Midlands. Away in the hollow beyond, the Bourn forms a picturesque, shady pool, part of which is used to make a capital open-air swimming bath for the men. In the rising background are the pretty houses and the gardens of the model village. Still retracing our steps, we now come to the original cottages built by the firm. Plainer and less picturesque than those of more modern construction, their air of comfort, and the creepers which cover many of their walls, make them harmonize well with their surroundings. One of them is now used as a youths' club, providing games, a circulating library, and reading and lecture rooms. Another contains club rooms for the office staff. In pa.s.sing we catch sight of a fine swimming bath for the girls.

Through the lodge and under the clematis, a few steps bring us to the private railway-station, which in size would do credit to many a town.

Here trucks are loaded with finished goods and despatched to their various destinations. Every working day of the year a long train, extending often in the busiest season to as many as forty truck-loads, steams out of this station to scatter the productions of Bournville over the face of the Earth. Close by the station we turn into the offices, where the fittings and general arrangement convey an air of refined solidity according well with the goods produced.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Plate: Girls' Dining Hall, Bournville.]

Before proceeding to study the manufacture of cocoa essence and chocolate from the bean as it is imported, it will be interesting to see the careful provision that is made for the health and cleanliness of the workers, for in connection with any food nothing is of greater importance than the circ.u.mstances attending its preparation. A gratuitous sick club is provided by the firm for the employees, including the services of a doctor and three trained nurses. A special retiring room, comfortably furnished, is provided for girls needing a quiet hour's rest.

We are taken into the girls' dining-hall, capable of seating over two thousand at a time, fitted with benches, the backs of which are convertible into table tops. The far end of the dining-hall leads into the huge kitchen, to which the girls can bring their own dinners to be cooked, or where they can buy a large variety of things at coffee-house prices. Here again the health of the workers is carefully studied. Fruit is made a speciality, an experienced buyer being employed to insure its better supply. A private dining-room is provided for the forewomen.

Returning to the dining-hall, we descend a flight of steps into the s.p.a.cious dressing-rooms, with vistas of wooden screens, filled on each side with numbered hooks. Here every morning the thousands of girls not only divest themselves of their outer garments, but change their dresses for washing frocks of white holland. The material for these is provided by the firm, free for the first, and afterwards at less than cost price, and the girls are required to start work in a clean frock every Monday morning. It will be seen at once how this helps them to keep neat and respectable; their strong white washing frocks only being soiled by their work, after which they change back into their own unstained clothes, and turn out looking as great a contrast to the usually pictured type of factory girl as can be imagined. The forewomen also conform to this arrangement, but wear washing dresses of blue cotton to distinguish them from the girls. Round the walls of this vast dressing-room hot-water pipes are placed, and over these are shelves where on a rainy day wet boots can be deposited to dry.

Specially thoughtful is the provision of rubber snow-shoes, imported from America for their use, and supplied under cost price. Beneath each stool, too, is a shelf for heavy boots, which can be replaced in the factory by slippers.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Drawing: BOOT-SHELF ON STOOL.]

Mention has already been made of the provision for illness or accidents, and of the care shown in the many arrangements for maintaining and improving the health and physical development of the girls. Further evidence of this is found in the airy and well-lighted work-rooms, from which funnels and exhaust fans collect and carry off all dust, and improve the ventilation, so that in spite of the mult.i.tudinous operations in progress, the whole place is kept as "spick and span" as a ship of the line. But another aggressive sign of the firm's belief in the motto _mens sana in corpore sano_ is the presence of a lady whose whole time is devoted to the physical culture of the girls. Trained in Swedish athletics, this lady and her a.s.sistant undertake the teaching, not only of gymnastics, but of swimming and numerous games. Every day drill cla.s.ses are held, an opportunity being thus provided for all the younger girls to attend a half-hour's lesson twice a week.

The result of all this thoughtful care is abundantly evident in the general air of health and comfort which pervades the whole factory, and in the bright faces which greet us at every turn, as we pa.s.s to and fro among the busy workers in this monster hive.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Plate: The Dinner Hour, Bournville.]

Entering now, and turning into the private station, we see thousands of sacks of the freshly-imported beans being transferred to the neighbouring stores. The new arrivals must first be sifted and picked over to get rid of any that may be unsound, or of any foreign material still remaining. This is accomplished by a sorting and winnowing machine, which delivers by separate shoots the cleaned beans, graded according to size, and the dust and foreign matter.

A battery of roasters await the survivors of this operation, which are automatically conveyed to the hoppers. High-pressure steam supplies the requisite heat without waste or smoke, and as the huge drums slowly rotate, experienced workmen, on whose judgment great reliance is placed, carefully watch their contents, and decide when precisely the right degree of roasting has been attained to secure the richest aroma. Then they are pa.s.sed through a cooling chamber, after which they are in condition for "breaking down."

This consists in cracking the sh.e.l.ls of the beans, and releasing the kernels or "nibs," from which the sh.e.l.ls and dust are winnowed by a powerful blast. It is accomplished by carrying the beans mechanically to the cracking machine at a considerable height, whence husks and nibs are allowed to fall before the winnower: the separated nibs are a.s.sorted according to size. Some of the sh.e.l.ls find their way to the Emerald Isle, to be used by the peasants for the weak infusion called "miserables."

Now comes the important process of grinding, performed between horizontal mill-stones, the friction of which produces heat and melts the "b.u.t.ter," while it grinds the "nibs" till the whole ma.s.s flows, solidifying into a brittle cake when cold.

The thick fluid of the consistency of treacle flowing from the grinding-mills is poured into round metal pots, the top and bottom of which are lined with pads of felt, and these are, when filled, put under a powerful hydraulic press, which extracts a large percentage of the natural oil or b.u.t.ter. The pressure is at first light, but as soon as the oil begins to flow the remaining ma.s.s in the press-pot is stiffened into the nature of indiarubber, and upon this it is safe to place any pressure that is desired. As it is not advisable to extract all the b.u.t.ter possible, the pressure is regulated to give the required result. In the end a firm, dry cake is taken from the press, and when cool is ground again to the consistency of flour; this is the "cocoa essence" for which the firm of Cadbury is so well known in all parts of the world.[13]

Between cocoa and chocolate there are essential differences. Both are made from the cocoa nib, but whereas in cocoa the nibs are ground separately, and the b.u.t.ter extracted, in chocolate sugar and flavourings are added to the nib, and all are ground together into a paste, the sugar absorbing all the superfluous b.u.t.ter. If good quality cocoa is used, the b.u.t.ter contained in the nib is all that is needful to incorporate sugar and nib into one soft chocolate paste for grinding and moulding, but in the commoner chocolates extra cocoa b.u.t.ter has to be added. It is a regrettable fact that some unprincipled makers are tempted to use cheaper vegetable fats as subst.i.tutes for the natural b.u.t.ter, but none of these are really palatable or satisfactory in use, and none of the leading British firms are guilty of using such adulterants, or of the still more objectionable practice of grinding cocoa-sh.e.l.ls and mixing them with their common chocolates.[14]

Flavouring is introduced according to the object in view; vanilla is largely employed in this country, though in France and Spain cinnamon is used, and elsewhere various spices. Willoughby, in his "Travels in Spain" (1664), writes:

"To every three and a half pounds of powder they add two pounds of sugar, twelve Vanillos, a little Guiny pepper (which is used by the Spaniards only), and a little Achiote[15] to give a colour. They melt the sugar, and then mingle all together, and work it up either in rolls or leaves."

Another writer says: "The usual proportion at Madrid to a hundred kernels of cocoa is to add two grains of Chile pepper, a handful of anise, as many flowers--called by the natives vinacaxtlides, or little ears--six white roses in powder, a pod of campeche,[16] two drachms of cinnamon, a dozen almonds and as many hazel-nuts, with achiote enough to give it a reddish tincture; the sugar and vanilla are mixed at discretion, as also the musk and ambergris. They frequently work this paste with orange water, which they think gives it a greater consistence and firmness."

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Plate: Bournville Village: Laburnum Road.]

When the chocolate is sufficiently ground it is put into a stove to attain the correct temperature, and is then pa.s.sed on to a moulding-table, where it is pressed into tin moulds, and shaken till it settles. After pa.s.sing through a refrigerating chamber, the contents of these moulds are ready as cakes of hard chocolate for putting up in the well-known blue "Mexican," or the dark-red "Milk,"

packets.

It would, of course, be interesting to proceed to an inspection of the many processes involved in making all the dainties that are prepared with chocolate, and of the numerous trades concerned in the production of packages, boxes, and fancy cases, did s.p.a.ce permit. Room after room might be visited, bright in the daylight, or equally well lighted by electricity at night, humming with busy machines; some peopled with girls--among whom only men wearing a certain badge on their arms are allowed--some with men and boys, but all vibrating with a genial air of content as well as of busy occupation. Suffice it to say that half the handicrafts of the town seem represented in this centre of industry, in every department of which order and cheerfulness reign supreme. Each would require a chapter to do it justice, for everything employed in packing seems to be made on the premises, and that, too, on a system of piece-work paid for, not at the lowest possible price, but on the basis of securing a satisfactory living wage to the average worker. No wonder the faces around are bright, no wonder that openings at the Bournville factory are in demand, and that long service for the firm is the boast of so many of the employees. Among these, a little band of about thirty still upholds the traditions of the old firm that laid the foundations of the present company in the city of Birmingham.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Plate: Packing Room, Bournville.]

The work hours are forty-eight each week, and the wages depend both on age and length of service, no man of twenty-three years of age and over twelve months' service receiving less than 24s. weekly. There are no deductions for sick club or fines, the sick fund, as before stated, being a free gift from the company. Offences and late time are entered in a record book, and an opportunity is given to wipe off all past records by two years' good service. The Athletic Club, with over 500 voluntary subscribers, runs three cricket, four football, and two hockey teams, besides bowling, tennis, swimming, and other sports. One of the most interesting events of the Cricket Club is the annual match with a team representing Messrs. Fry and Sons, of Bristol, the oldest established cocoa firm in this country. In friendly opposition to the "Bournville Club" are the teams drawn from the "Youths' Club," and other outside organizations. A summer camp of over a hundred boys has been successfully held at the seaside for some years past.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Drawing: SUGGESTION BOX.]

The recent introduction of the system of suggestion-boxes throughout the works has been a great success. All employees are invited to make suggestions, which are dealt with each week by two committees, one for the men and one for the girls. Prizes amounting to about 80 are offered every half-year for the best suggestions. During the first seven months of operation over 1,000 suggestions were received, a very large percentage of which were found sufficiently useful to be adopted. The result has been to draw all sections closer together, as each feels sure of getting due credit for original ideas. Many important alterations in organization and methods of working have been carried into effect, entirely owing to this scheme.[17]

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Plate: Bournville Village: Linden Road.]

In order to encourage thrift (at the same time insuring privacy), a Savings Fund on a novel system has been working successfully for several years at Bournville. The fund was opened in Jubilee year by gifts of 1 to each employee who had been three years in the service of the firm, and 10s. to those employed for a shorter time. Deposits are received, and amounts withdrawn in the usual way during the year, through collectors in each department, the depositors' cards being called in quarterly for audit. At the end of each financial year, in May, interest at the rate of four per cent. is added to the amount standing to the credit of each depositor, and the whole amount paid over to the Post Office Savings Bank. At this time also, Post Office officials attend at the works, and enter the amounts to the credit of each depositor, issuing new Post Office Savings books where necessary.

This system secures absolute privacy for the permanent savings, and places the fund upon a secure basis. As some evidence that the scheme is appreciated, it may be stated that the total balance transferred to the Post Office Savings Bank has averaged over 3,200 per annum.

While in the district of Bournville, the opportunity must not be lost of becoming more closely acquainted with the village around the works.

Away beyond the factory stretches an estate of nearly 500 acres, set apart for the purpose of "alleviating the evils which arise from the insanitary and insufficient accommodation supplied to large numbers of the working cla.s.ses, and of securing to workers in factories some of the advantages of outdoor village life, with opportunities for the natural and healthful occupation of cultivating the soil." As yet only some 450 houses have been erected, pretty, picturesque cottages all of them, for the most part semi-detached, each on its sixth of an acre, more or less, housing in all a population of about 2,000.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Plate: Fishing Pool, Bournville.]

It was compa.s.sion for the ill-housed work-people of Birmingham that led Mr. George Cadbury, the founder of the village, to undertake so splendid a task, and having accomplished it, he crowned it by making a gift of the whole to the nation, placing its administration in the hands of a Trust. In doing so he laid down ideal stipulations for its development, and for the regulation of the villages which may in the future be built out of the income of the Trust. The princ.i.p.al of these are that factories or workshops shall never occupy more than one fifteenth of the area; that no house shall occupy more than one-fourth of the ground allotted to it; that in addition to wide roads and the ample gardens thus secured, one-tenth of the area shall be reserved for public open s.p.a.ces for ever, parts of which are to be used as children's playgrounds. At present no intoxicants are sold or prepared on the estate, and if ever the trustees should see fit to permit this, it is to be as a co-operative undertaking, the profits of which shall "be devoted to securing for the village community recreation and counter-attraction to the liquor trade as ordinarily conducted."

Such a scheme affords a model for public bodies tackling the housing problem in earnest, and is fraught with great hopes for the future.

The annual income, nearly 6,000, is to be applied first to the development of this estate, and subsequently to the purchase of estates near Birmingham or other large towns, and the establishment of new villages thereon. A most important feature is, that although the rents are calculated to yield a fair return on the cost, including a proportion of development expenses, they are so low that a five-roomed cottage with bath and every convenience can be had for the rent of a two-roomed hovel in the slums. About two-fifths of the householders find employment in the cocoa works, the rest in the adjoining villages or in Birmingham.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Plate: Almshouse Quadrangle, Bournville.]

The gardens are a special feature, and before the houses are let, they are laid out by the Trust, and planted with fruit trees. All are well worked, and an average yield in vegetables and fruit of nearly two shillings a week has been found possible, equivalent to something like 60 an acre--more than twelve times as much food as would be produced if under pasturage. Two professional gardeners, with several men under them, are employed to look after the gardening department, and they are always ready to give any information or advice required by the tenants, so that the cottage gardens may be cultivated to the utmost profit. At present the public buildings consist of a village inn and baths; a school is shortly to be erected. Building is being steadily proceeded with, and although the development of the estate may be somewhat slow at first, it will advance with growing rapidity as the revenue increases. No wonder that there is an omnipresent air of comfort and prosperity, or that the death-rate is only about eight per thousand, in comparison with nineteen in the neighbouring city.

No description of Bournville would be complete without a mention of its picturesque alms-houses. Here a haven of rest is provided for some of those who, in their best years, have rendered faithful service to the firm. Thirty-three independent houses, brick and stone built, each with its own doorway to the quiet greensward, and its windows to the sun, form an inviting, reposeful quadrangle. They were the last gift of a life devoted to the interests of others, and the happiness and peace which characterize them are fitting memorials of the late Richard Cadbury, the elder of the two brothers who founded this great industry, and who have in their lives been favoured to see such untold blessing upon their labours.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Colour Plate: Section of a Chocolate Factory.]

SECTION OF A CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

The accompanying diagram of a chocolate factory is reproduced by kind permission of the Berlin publishers of Dr. Paul Zipperer's well-known work on "The Manufacture of Chocolate,"

which contains much valuable information. The machinery described is that of Messrs. Lehmann, of Dresden, one of the largest makers on the Continent.

By means of the lift (1) all the raw materials, sugar, cocoa, packing, etc., are carried up to the store-rooms (2). Here are the machines for cleansing and picking the raw cocoa-beans, which are fed into the elevator boxes (3) above the cleansing machine (4), which frees them from dust; they then pa.s.s to the continuous band (5) on which they are picked over, and from which they fall into movable boxes (6). They are thence transferred to the hoppers (7), and fed by opening a slide in the hopper, into the roasting machine (8). The quant.i.ty contained in the hoppers is sufficient to charge the roasting machine. When the roasting is completed the cocoa is emptied into trucks (9), and carried to the exhaust arrangement (10), where the beans are cooled down, the vapour given off pa.s.sing out into the open air. At the same time the air of the roasting chamber is sucked out through the funnel-shaped tube fitted to the cover. The roasted cocoa is then pa.s.sed to boxes (11), to be conveyed by the elevator to the crushing and cleansing machine (12). After being cleansed, the cocoa is carried in trucks (13) to hoppers (14) by which it is fed into the mills (15) on the lower floor. The sugar mill and sifting apparatus (26) placed near the crushing and cleansing machines are also fed by a hopper from above. Cocoa and sugar are now supplied to the mixing machine (16), to be worked together before pa.s.sing to the rolls (17) by which the final grinding is effected. After pa.s.sing once or more through the mill, the finished chocolate ma.s.s is taken to the hot-room (18), where it remains in boxes until further treated, after which it is taken to the moulding-room. In the mixer (19) the ma.s.s acquires the consistency and temperature requisite for moulding. The ma.s.s is then taken in lumps to the dividing machine (20), and cut into pieces of the desired size and weight. On the table (21) the moulds, lying upon boards, are filled with chocolate and then taken to the shaking-table (22). By means of a double lift (23) the moulded chocolate, still lying upon boards, is conveyed to the cooling-room or cellar, in which there are benches or frames (24) for receiving the moulds as they are slipped off the boards. The cellar has to be cooled artificially, according to situation. Adjoining the cellar is the wrapping-room (25), and further on the warehouse. The goods so far finished are then taken by the lift (1) to the rooms where they are packed for delivery.

FOOTNOTES:

[13] For ancient processes see Appendix I., p. 103.

[14] "Chocolate is an article so disguised in the manufacture that it is impossible to tell its purity or value. The only safeguard is to buy that which bears the name of a reputable maker."--Chambers, "Manual of Diet."