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s/100 MILES HESSIAN CLOTH IN ONE DAYSuperintendent State Penitentiary Investigates Jute Bag Industry In IndiaOlympia, Jan. 3—C. S. Reed, superintendent of the state penitentiary at Walla Walla, has made his official report on his visit to India to Governor M. E. Hay. Mr. Reed went there to ascertain, if possible, if the state would be able to purchase raw jute at a lower price than it had heretofore been paying, to investigate the manufacture of sacks both as to cost and system employed, and to secure any and all information that would be beneficial to the state looking toward cheapening the cost of grain bags.The results found, according to the report, are:That the Washington penitentiary mill has used the first grade of jute, while the India bag is made from the second, third and fourth grades mixed.That heretofore the state has been advertising for bids on certain private brands of jute, thereby restricting competition.In India they use a great deal of waste as a filler, which has been discarded at Walla Walla.Identically the same machinery is used in the manufacture of sacks in India as at Walla Walla, but labor in India costs much less per day than it costs for the mere subsistence of the convicts. In India the manufacturers are paying about 81 per ton for coal, while the state of Washington is paying from 85 to 86 per ton.By working in what has heretofore been discarded or sold as waste, a saving of approximately 81,400 per year can be effected at Walla Walla.Mr. Reed visited the great mill at Kankanarran, which employes over 7,000 natives, who are paid on an average for the men about 10 cents and the women 8 cents per day, and which manufacturers over 100 miles of Hessian cloth per day. The employes in this mill worked from 12 to 15 hoursper day. The report states that practically all the mills in India work long hours, but that there is some agitation along this line, and Mr. Reed was informed that after next April the time will be reduced to 12 hours per day.
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Leavenworth Echo
Leavenworth, Washington, US
Fri, Jan 05, 1912
Page 4
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USA 23 May 2023
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