one hand to the other, began to understand. But he still stubbornly protested: "Women haven't the mental capacity for my work."
"We shall see," said Government.
"But it will take so long to learn my trade, five years, six years, seven years."
"Ah, so it will. Very well, then, teach the women a part of your trade at a time, a process in which instruction can be given in the shortest length of time."
"But the tools of my trade, they are heavy for a woman's hands."
"There shall be special tools made."
And there have been. So, the now famous "dilution" of labour has been arranged. Mrs. Black is "in munitions." I saw her standing at a machine that is called a capstan lathe, drilling the opening in a circular piece of brass. There used to be employed in this shop, 1,500 men and the man power has been now so diluted, that there are 200 men and 1,300 women. There are rows and rows of the capstan lathes and down each alleyway, as the space between them is called, there are lines of women like Mrs. Black. They have to start the machine, to feed it, and control it, and stop it. In three weeks' time most of them were able to learn these repetitive operations. But they do not yet know how to take the machine apart or to fix it if anything breaks. So up and down each row there goes a skilled man who is still retained for this, a "setter-up," he is called in the trade. And to supervise
