The Comma Nut’s Tale - Quilon (Kollam)
It was the mention of the Vitapack technology that drew me to this research and went on to uncover the story of how the cashew industry was set up in India and detail the role America had to play in it. As I continue, you will find interesting intersections with many other stories that we have covered previously, the Americans in Travancore, Pierce Leslie, trade unionism, the TNB and Quilon bank, CP Matthen, Monazite, and so on. But to reach there, we must head to Quilon in Kerala, a port of fame since ancient times, be it the case of Romans, the Chinese, or the Persians, trading for spices.
I had in an earlier article traced the advent of the plant and the nut (Parangi Andi or Andi paruppu) to Malabar shores, and the role played by the Portuguese. A member of the poison ivy family, it was originally a native of Brazil where people threw away the nut after eating the sweet fruit, thence planted in Africa and finally In India, where it found much favor in Goa and Kerala, though remaining a poor man’s crop but as a rich man’s food.
The chronicler of Pierce Leslie’s fortunes in India, detailing the cashew, rises to poetry - Malabar has no monopoly of this tree, which is indigenous to Brazil and grows more extensively in East Africa; But what Malabar does possess above all others are the nimble fingers and unrivalled skill of its beautiful women who alone make its benefits available to the markets of the world.
The Portuguese planted many trees in Goa (to prevent soil erosion, or so it seems) and soon found use for the nuts in curries, to tone down the spice levels and thicken it (as done even today in richer Indian curries) and of course the fruit to make the potent local hooch – Fenny, a drink which though very popular tends to leave a noticeable stink in your sweat. But it was in Quilon, Mangalore, and Calicut, that methods were devised to get the nut out of the kernel safely and use it as a snack. The British pioneered an enterprise, after which the Americans took over when it became a huge hit in the United States, as a cocktail accompaniment. So wildly popular did it become that after an initial shipment of a few hundred cases, the USA became its sole user until the Second World War, accounting for 95% or more of the exports from India. The story of the nut is heady and not without its share of intrigue, exploitation, tragedy, and whatnot.
Americans knew a bit about Travancore by then and had ships plying to Alleppey, where, as you may recall, American Companies such as Darragh and Smail had set up coir industries. The volume of business was quite good, and it even resulted in the set-up of a US consulate at Alleppey, which I had detailed previously. How did the Americans get into this business and find a cost-effective way to ship this produce many thousand miles to ports in the USA, avoiding spoilage?
One fine morning about ten years ago (1922) a Hindu cashew grower walked into Mr. Rector's office at the Franklin Baker plant, Hoboken, N. J., with a problem and a query. The problem: Indian meal moths, and also grain beetles, were laying eggs in cashew nuts ready for export, the eggs were hatching while the nuts were being shipped, and the shipments were turning up pretty badly spoiled! The query: Would Mr. Rector's newly developed and successful patented method of packing coconut moist, in carbon dioxide gas - kill the eggs and make exporting cashews more than a commercial headache? Mr. Rector went into the problem with enthusiasm and to make a long story found that his inert gas process -trademarked Vitapack -was exactly what the cashew nut business needed.
In 1925, Pierce Leslie using the new packing, technology at their Calicut factory shipped some 25 cases to the USA (Note however that Mangalore continued to be the main center of the business, till it moved to its next and final home, Quilon). PL did their packaging or CO2 tinning in Calicut. Mr. Jefferies who developed this technology for PL using Rector’s technique, also designed the drum roaster, which became the mainstay for the roasting process. By 1923 a load of 45 tons was shipped and just to note, it took 45-50 days by ship then, to reach the USA. In a few years, the quality improved, and the number of condemned shipments reduced drastically. News of its fit as a cocktail accompaniment spread and it became a hit in America.
Who was the Hindu cashew grower? There were very few South Indian Hindus in those days in the USA, though one could find Sikhs here and there. Furthermore, the 1917 US Immigration Law instituted the Asiatic Barred Zone, to prevent “undesirables” from immigrating to the U.S., an act primarily targeted individuals migrating from Asia. So, who could that Hindu be? Hold on, I will get to it.
The Mangalore units already had some representation in the US, and Malabar was represented by Pierce Leslie, but the costs were relatively high. Coupled with loose regulations, and a large lower-class working population of Quilon where cashew trees were growing in plenty, a new industry sprang up. Preservation had been solved with CO2 packing, and those using it paid a 5% royalty to Vitapack. Some exporters preferred low-cost vacuum packing, but it had a limited shelf life. The tins were incidentally provided by Tata’s of Cochin.
Quilon – The Cashew Citadel of the World
Quilon for some reason had many cashew trees and eventually became home to the industry, after Mangalore and Goa. Cashew trees, as you may know, can flourish in hot humid conditions and hence are distributed in locations near the equator. Moreover, Quilon has been a popular port since the 12th century. Early cashew processing relocated to Travancore mainly to escape British Indian labor laws which had regulated working hours and child labor since 1881. The availability of nuts locally, new financiers, and the existence of a railway and a usable port made things easy.
JEA Periera and JLP Roche started the first organized unit circa 1925, which collected cashew nuts in shells from many small growers, and hand-roasted them, employing hundreds of women to peel them by hand. Roche and Periera had many foreign connections and also dabbled in mineral exports to Europe and America. Apparently, their financier was one JS Naidu from Tirunelveli, their unit was supervised by one Antony Muthu Pillai and the accountant was PV Swaminathan, per information from KC Govindan, a prominent trade union leader of that period.
As it happened, one of Naidu’s brothers lived in the USA and helped the team secure orders from US buyers. Now I would assume that it was this Naidu, the Hindu, who approached Thomas Rector with the cashew problem around 1922-23.
W T Anderson, who was in Alleppey, dealing with the Coir Industry since the early 1900s, then dove in and started WT Anderson & Co in 1931, employing some 2,000 workers, to jumpstart a larger setup. As you can imagine, the business grew manyfold, and PV Swaminathan later teamed up with Anderson to form the India Nut Company.
By 1936, the 20 or so factories in Quilon collectively employed over 20,000, mostly women, working with their hands. Over 40% of the exports were from their efforts while Mangalore still accounted for 20% and other units in Bombay, Vengurla and Goa accounted for another 25%. The balance 15% came from several areas, including India’s East Coast (mostly used for local consumption as they were considered of inferior quality).
American inspectors and buyers lived in Quilon, and one among them was John Michael Casey a buyer, who later became a manager at Indian Nuts. Close to a hundred Americans lived in the Cochin – Alleppey- Quilon area, during this period, working in various trading enterprises.
CP Matthen and the Quilon Bank
The business flourished, with the entry of CP Matthen who had started the Quilon Bank in 1919. Matthen says - At the time (I guess around 1923) I embarked on business, the cashew nut was not considered a valuable commercial commodity. It was all but a mere wild growth, yielding a sporadic income to a few scattered petty merchants. As a banker, I chanced to come into contact with the representative of a big American Corporation, by name General Foods. He was interested in the export of Cashew nuts to his country. I knew of the abundance of cashew trees and of the fitful and inadequate utilization of its produce. I helped the American in getting supplies, not only of the raw cashew nut but also of such manufactured products as were in vogue. The first field we tapped was the area around Quilon. Who could that representative be - Anderson or Johnson? I presume it was Anderson, as he was around before Johnson.
The immediate result was most promising. As the better class of merchants declined to show any interest in it, I had recourse to a class of small merchants. Though they appreciated the possibilities, were unfortunately handicapped by want of sufficient resources. The Quilon Bank promptly came to their rescue and financed them liberally. From 1925 onwards, the main business of our bank was the financing of the business in these nuts.
After a successful beginning in Cashews, Anderson, Matthen, and Swaminathan became partners not only in banking but also in the mineral and other businesses, which had American buyers (The US was deeply interested in the Monazite sands of Travancore, see this article for details). The business soon yielded a revenue of some Rs 10 Lakhs and went on to become a cash crop and the creation of affluence in the quiet town of Quilon. The bank branched out into the more lucrative mineral business, merged with the National bank to create the TNQ bank (Anderson became its director, Swaminathan its GM), crossed swords with Sir CP and soon it was a downright mess, dragging Anderson, Swaminathan and others into it, yet another story we recounted some months ago.
Meanwhile, business continued, and many others formed companies, the owners and units in Mangalore and Malabar moved to Quilon due to cost reasons, and suppliers to Swaminathan and Anderson such as Tangal Kunju Musaliar formed their units. Pierce Leslie, Volkart, and Aspinwall used the infrastructure to expand into cashew businesses in Quilon.
Towards the end of 1937, things started to go south. Labor problems started first at the Coir Mills at Alleppey, then at the cashew units in Quilon. Both industries employing many tens of thousands of women, were centers of exploitation, and strikes became commonplace, disrupting work.
WT Anderson
It is not quite clear where W T Anderson came from, nor is his background known. Most indications are that he was an American, who as I said initially dabbled in the Coir business( he wrote the first report on the industry in Alleppey), was presumably an associate of Darragh and Smail. Numerous letters and mentions of his pleas with Sir CP surface in the TNQ case files, but he is still somewhat of an unknown. One can read of problems in his factories, also of a Malayalam song written around the baron and sung by the female workers in his plants. He seems to have after the TNB furor, moved on and settled in Coonoor for retirement, but otherwise scant records exist about this entrepreneur, the original American pioneer in Quilon. Anderson the second Cashew King (After Rector who used to be called the Original King) once sailed to New York, just to popularize its eating as a ‘touching’s’ or snack accompaniment, with beer!!
PV Swaminathan
Accounts about Swaminathan in the Cashew, mineral, and banking sectors of that time are not flattering at all. Swaminathan was the son of the famous Tuticorin lawyer Vengu Iyer and hailed from Tirunelveli. He took to business in Madras as a youth aged 15 and arrived in Quilon around 1924. Teaming up with Anderson, they formed India Nuts and later branched out into banking (Director & GM Quilon, TNQ bank), Aleppey Co, Quilon Aloes, etc. After the TNQ bank mess, Swaminathan’s cashew plantations and other investments were liquidated and gifted to certain vested interests for a pittance (Seems Swaminathan's 250 acres of cashew plantation was taken by one Kukkhilaya for Rs.1000/-)
Lindsay Johnson Franklin
As could be expected, he teamed up with the trio of Anderson, Swaminathan, and Matthen. Presumably, the business went on quite well until the TNQ mess started in 1938 or thereabouts. As the liquidity of the TNQ bank was threatened, it appears that he colluded with Swaminathan or helped his friend out by signing some promissory notes or cheques, to fudge the balance sheet of the bank, a huge undoing. This became a key aspect when whistle-blower Ramanujam teamed up with Sir CP to sink the bank and put CP Matthen and others behind bars. Anderson and Swaminathan somehow avoided censure and I guess that Anderson passed away soon after while Swaminathan continued as the Cashew baron, with Johnson.
An issue to contend with was the placement of CNSL in the strategic list during WW II (as it was used in the aircraft industry as an armature lubricant) and the ban of Cashew to the US without corresponding CSNL quantities.
Johnson had to leave as WW II started, but he never returned, and as rumor has it, Johnson’s “Cashew House’ house was appropriated by Swaminathan, and used to pay off debts. After the legal issues were settled and the liquidators had walked away with the fortunes of Matthen, Anderson, and many others involved in the TNQ saga, the home was acquired by our pioneer cashew man FX Periera (Nowadays it is the HQ of the KSCDC).
Cyclopedia records mention that LF Johnson returned to America after the death of his partner. Since Swaminathan was still around in Quilon, it must have been after the death of Anderson.
The new Cashew king – Tangal Kunju Musaliar
The old empire was in ruins, Matthen was in jail, Swaminathan was embroiled in court cases, Anderson either retired or dead, Johnson was back in the US, and the FX Pereira and Roche were not involved anymore. Nevertheless, the cashew business was not so to say, in shambles.
Ignatius in his article, heralds the arrival of a new King - The end of the world war brought new fortunes and stronger international market destinations to the Quilon cashew sector, and I was flushed with excitement. Soon Thangal Kunju Musaliar who is reported to have worked as Swaminathan’s bullock cart driver surpassed Swaminathan in the business by sheer acumen and hard work. I also faintly remember seeing Musaliar as the bullock cart driver during Lindsay’s time too.
However, I am not too sure about the foregoing, for Matthen makes it clear that TK Musaliar was a wealthy man and that he had teamed up with Musaliar and Swaminathan in acquiring the Kundara land, to corner the mineral deposits, in 1932. Thomas Austin the Dewan cleared it but later Sir CP as advisor to the Travancore government cancelled the license.
You may wonder why the term Cashew King is used– well, the price differential was much more than pepper and the profits huge, making these owners immensely rich and eventually powerful. But like always, kings were deposed, and new kings were crowned, and some kings like Musaliyar perhaps tired of the never-ending labor issues in his factories which employed over 30,000 workers, diversified into other areas. He set up many educational institutions such as the famous TKM Engineering College in 1956, among others, and became a famous name in Kerala.
Though very profitable for the owners, exporters, and buyers, the cashew units proved to be hell for the workers. The women and child workers did not have basic amenities, were overworked, were paid a pittance, were sexually harassed, and neither health nor safety at the workplace was taken care of. Even drinking water was a premium. The noxious fumes produced during roasting created many illnesses and the scarring and scalding of fingers of the women peeling cashews in primitive fashion were decried and all this proved to be the industry's undoing. Communism and red flags arrived, trade unions were formed, and agitations became the norm, pitting labor against the owner. The industry suffered, as workers fought for fundamental rights.
The business meanders on
This was the start of a rapidly growing $6.5 billion global business, as Cashews were touted as natural and healthy snacks and went on to become part of so many food products from nut bars to substitutes for butter, cream, and milk.
As India was becoming independent, things started to change in Travancore. Processing units became factories, regulations, legal minimum wages, and welfare schemes were imposed, and home processing was done away with. This resulted in cost increases, producers started to employ tactics like closing and converting units to seasonal temporary sheds, Others relocated just across the borderline, to Tamil Nadu. Eventually, many closed and the KSCDC was set up to bring some control and to procure raw nuts.
The decline
Nothing much happened in Quilon, between the 50’s and the turn of the 21st century, as the business meandered on. To meet volumes, raw nuts were imported from Africa and reprocessed in Quilon. Open pan roasting processes gave way to drum roasting and some started to follow the oil bath process as CNSL or shell oil became popular. Steam boiling was also resorted to in some units. Molded Vacuum Packaging (MVP) took over from tinning, and many of the ladies gave way to a cheaper workforce from the NE. New Cashew Kings were proclaimed, and Quilon continued to somehow cling on to the roost.
Costs went up constantly, but the state government tried to stop or delay mechanization fearing job losses and trade union retaliation, as owners moved across the borders to establish mechanized units. Sad is the story of how Quilon which reigned supreme until the second decade of the 21st century, dropped like a stone to number two with the sudden rise of Vietnam that took over half the global market share by setting up mechanized and automated plants, employing hardly any manpower (See the WSJ story and the video for further details).
Many more people in India eat Cashew than in the 30s when it was an ‘export only’ luxury, a time when pregnant women workers were punished for eating a cashew now and then! The soaring industry is now studied by experts for the lack of foresight and cohesive strategy, fervent trade unionism, uncontrolled costs, and perhaps, downright arrogance, while economists and human rights experts see it as the sorry tale of exploitation.
In America, cashews continue to reign supreme, roasted or unroasted, sometimes a mix from India, Africa, Vietnam, and Brazil. Though the quality of SE Asian, Brazilian, and African cashews is good, the Indian export is still rated quite high. Though the golden days are gone, the taste of the Quilon processed cashew remains supreme, …at least for now.
Travancore State Manual TK Velu Pillai
Experience and Identity: A Historical Account of Class, Caste, and Gender among the Cashew Workers of Kerala, 1930–2000 – Anna Lindberg
Modernization and Effeminization in India - Kerala Cashew Workers since 1930 - Anna Lindberg
The Cashew - PL Saroj, KRM Swamy
I Have Borne Much - CP Matthen
The history of trade union movement in Kerala – K Ramachandran Nair
Century in Malabar – Perce Leslie 1862-1962 – WKM Langley
Wall Street Journal ‘How Cashews Explain Globalization’ - Bill Spindle, Vibhuti Agarwal, WSJ Video
In Quilon, Cashew Processing Pens its Plight - Ignatius Pereira
Trivia - You may not believe it, but during WWII, Cashew Shell Oil was used for subversive purposes by the British OSS Division 19, to sabotage German vehicles. This oil was one of the key ingredients in the so-called ‘Turtle egg’ a small rubber sack filled with CNSL or Cacolube and placed in the oil intake pipe of the vehicle. German technicians trying to fix the busted engine developed severe allergies!
Pics - Rector - Courtesy GF Maxwell House Special edition, others commerce weeklies
Related Maddys’ Ramblings articles (click to open)
