RAW AND TOUGH
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Year Published: 1960’
Format: 16mm
Description: This is a 1960’s era color film produced by the Bemis Bro. Bag Company. It is called, "Rough and Tough: A companion film to Bemis’ ‘The King’s Other Life’". It is the story of how raw jute is processed in India and Pakistan and made into burlap bags in the United States. The purpose of the film is to showcase the quality of Bemis production facilities for burlap products. U.S. Color photography by Marshall C. Barnes. Produced by Packaging Service, Bemis Bro. Bag Co. Map shows the location of Pakistan and India. Map shows the increase of India’s production of raw jute 1:05. Animation shows how burlap is moved from India to US and then into international products that funnel back to India 1:12. Farmers are shown planting seeds for the crop 1:33. Cows pull the till on the farm 1:44. Harrowing prepares the soil for sowing 2:07. Seeds are sown 2:12. Boy spreads seed over the harrowed soil 2:23. The jute grows fast and is thinned out by men in the fields 2:40. Man displays the jute plant and its leaves 3:02. The plants grow on average from 8 to 10 feet high 3:12. When the flowers appear on the plant, it is time to harvest 3:14. Men harvest the fields 3:31. Jute stalks are loosely bundled 3:40. Man carries a bundle of jute 4:11. The jute is soaked in water for 10 to 14 days to remove the fibers from the plant 4:30. A young boy is shown gathering the washed fibers 4:45. Bundles of fibers are shipped to market on carts and by boat 5:00. Bundles of processed jute are loaded on boats 5:15. The jute reaches the press houses where the jute is sorted for color and quality 5:43. The roots are cut off if the jute is going to a foreign market 6:00. The jute goes through a process of combing 6:06. Jute of similar grades are made into bundles, 6:20. Men carry bundles onto river barges 6:55. Families live on the side of the river 7:25. A village of jute workers raises their families on company property 7:40. 5,500 workers are employed at this huge jute mill 8:00. The jute is laid onto a machine where it is straightened and combed. The jute is run through several machines where the fibers are spun and finally to the spinning machine 8:43. The spools spend the jute into yarns 8:57. The jute is now ready to be woven into burlap 9:05. Balers compress each bale and make it ready for shipment 9:30. Burlap bags are loaded by crane onto a boat 9:55. The Statue of Liberty is shown 10:14. The burlap has arrived in New York 10:24. The burlap is unloaded from the ships in New York Harbor 11:00. Jute cloth produced in India is known as Hessians or Hessian fabric 11:19. Bemis operates its own importing business for burlap 11:54. Bemis grading is accepted as the standard for testing burlap in the United States 12:08. Burlap enters a Bemis factory for production into bags and other products 12:18. Trucks are loaded with burlap 12:30. A map is shown with 16 factories and Bemis plants across the United States 13:04. Man unloads bolts of fabric at the Bemis factory 13:23. Burlap goes onto rolls for printing 13:51. Printing plates are loaded into a machine to print bags 14:00. Bemis workers do multicolor printing on a machine 14:30. Rolls of burlap are cut into bag length on a machine 14:50. Paint is put into machines 15:00. Printed burlap bags are stacked on a pallet 15:35. Folded seams are sewn into bags 15:57. Bags are stacked and compressed for shipping 16:20. Different brands are shown printed across the burlap bags 16:48. Rough and tough inexpensive material for colorfully printed burlap bags manufactured by Bemis, America’s number one burlap bag maker. Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. "Jute" is the name of the plant or fiber used to make burlap, hessian or gunny cloth. Jute is one of the most affordable natural fibers, and second only to cotton in the amount produced and variety of uses. Jute fibers are composed primarily of the plant materials cellulose and lignin. Bemis Inc. was founded by Judson Moss Bemis in 1858 in St. Louis, Missouri, as a manufacturer of printed cotton bags for food products. Two key innovations Bemis' company originally pioneered were the printing and machine-sewing of bags. (Traditionally, bags were stenciled and hand-sewn.)
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Transcription
[Music] the cultivation of jute and the production of burlap in India and Pakistan and its processing into bags in our country is a prime example of international trade it's about 90 percent of the jute fiber of the world traditionally the area that is now Pakistan has raised most of the raw jute and India has woven the fiber into burlap since the political division however India has increased its raw juice production and Pakistan has built mills to manufacture burlap cloth dollars earned from the sale of burlap to US make it possible for India and Pakistan to by precision manufactured items we make under our highest standard of living but let's go to the beginning of the process where a riot for peasant with primitive methods plants the seed for his small crop preparation of the soil begins soon after the rainfalls of March and April the soil is fertile it supports the largest agricultural population of the world it is hard to believe that methods so primitive are still in use today conditions for the successful cultivation of jute are best where there is a heavy rainfall of 60 to 100 inches a year the jute plant requires a hot damp climate after ploughing harrowing prepares the soil for sowing the seed is sown at the rate of 8 to 10 pounds per acre sowing is done between the middle of March and the middle of June depending on the rainfall and weather the ground is upland or lowland harrowing ensures proper cover with the right proportion of Sun and rain the jute grows fast as much as an inch a day and must be thinned out in it's fairly stages the plants grow best when they are about 6 inches apart hoeing and thinning take place at least twice during the crops rapid growth of about 15 weeks the jute plant grows in a single stem branching out is checked by special pruning the plants grow to an average height of eight to ten feet when the flower is appear the plant is ready for harvesting this stage of growth is considered best for maximum fibre yield the stem is cylindrical about the thickness of a man's finger and generally green or pink in color cutting is done close to the ground after a few days leaves dry and drop off stripped of leaves the stalks are loosely bundled and carried to a wrecking pool to millions of jute cultivators in India the harvest of their crop determines their measure of happiness or misery for the coming year the export of raw jute and manufactured jute goods are important factors in the economy of Pakistan and India however a rich crop does not necessarily mean prosperity because prices in the world market may be very low reading is an important process in separating the fiber from the park and the center stalk the jute tied in bundles is submerged in water for 10 to 14 days but gummy matter surrounding the fiber ferments permitting the bark fiber and stalk to be separated the fibers are then thoroughly washed and dried this 14 year old boy is shown gathering the washed fibers bundles of fibers go by it river crafts Buffalo car or truck to the market there dealers will bid for the jute and sell it to the press houses labor is cheap workers are paid about 6 dollars a month they are very agile with astonishing strength the bundle shown way about 200 pounds when it reaches the press house the Judas carried into warehouses called go down where experts order is graded for colors and quality Judas generally sold to a series of middlemen who in turn sell it to the upcountry agencies of Calcutta merchants the roots are usually cut off if the dude is going to a foreign market then comes the heckling or rough combing of each Hank finally eighteen or twenty tanks or Moroz of the same grade are made into a bundle called Baja ready for the press house Bayles weigh 400 pounds when they emerge from the hydraulic press now they will go either to the mills of Calcutta or to ships loading for a foreign port here human labor is cheaper than gasoline or electric trucks now the raw jute goes mostly by river barge to the Hooghly River mills just north of Calcutta one of the best-known of these is the famous Angus mill where burlap goes exclusively to Bemis Indian jute mill workers come from their native villages to the factory bringing with them their wives and children and live in little shelters on the company property they bathe and wash their clothes in the pools on the compound schools hospitals playgrounds for children and even must are on the property these scenes show the outside of the Angus mill and the mill Watchmen 5500 workers are employed in this huge mill in the mill Judas sorted into grades and delivered to the batching stalls where it is sprayed with an emulsion of oil and water to make it more pliable after several days the Judas sprinkled again to aid spinning a certain weight of jute is laid upon the feed cloth of the breaker card to be straightened calmed and draws the sliver of jute comes out of the breaker card goes through a finisher card which further combs and draws the fibers after is still another combing process thus LIBOR is fed into the roping machine which draws out the strands and gives them a slight twist now to the spinning machine where it is further twisted and spun into yarn and the bobbins are rewound onto spools these yarns make up the warped beam the cop winding machine makes up shuttle thread at this point the jute is ready for weaving into burlap the woven jute cloth goes through a calendar process which irons it flat and is lapped Pakistan now has in operation jute mills of its own formerly India processed most jute huge Baylor's exerting tremendous pressure compress each Bale to conserve shipping space covered and bound the burlap is ready for shipment rough-and-tough burlap for industry and commerce the bales are pushed on small cars to the jetty where lighters will carry them on the holy river to Calcutta for shipment abroad the average bale contains 2,000 yards to be made into bags or to be used as peace good [Music] ships bound for the East and Gulf Coast's of America travel around Asia and through the Suez Canal those four Pacific Coast points go across the Pacific Ocean [Music] from the fillet till the Hudson now in New York Harbor the burlap is in a different world a world of machinery of power of efficiency a world of high wages and high living conditions Joost cloth produced in India's Mills is known to the world as Sessions and Sachi but in the United States the Hessians which are commonly in use here are called burlap for reuse cheapness high strength and long wear burlap is unexcelled importing burlap from India is not ordinarily a part of the bag business Bemis however operates its own importing office and is the largest importer of burlap in the United States the Bemis Boston burlap department handles the purchases of burlap good arranges for Rupee exchange shipping space freight rates insurance customs entry Beauty payments and all other matters pertaining to an importing office this department is responsible also for the testing of burlap goods bemis grading is accepted as the standard for the industry burlap enters a Bemis Factory for printing and manufacture into banks 1/4 truck does what human labor did in India bemis has 16 such plants giving local service from coast to coast burlap the universal packaging materials ready to be made into back from Angus to Bemis when the bales are open the bolts are separated and made ready for the ends to be sold together and rolled up the utility of jute textiles depends on toughness reuse value and low cost in these characteristics it is the outstanding bag material of the world here hundreds of bales each week are opened up for the printing presses at each step the goods are carefully inspected printing is done with both hand cut rubber plates and plates molded from patterns careful workmanship goes into each stage of manufacture sharp clear cut brands attract and keep your customers attention a measure of the quality built into Bemis bags 1,000 yard rolls stand before the huge automatic web presses that cut print and fold all sizes good brand printing requires know-how and good equipment and Bemis has both multicolor printing is of Bemis specialty roles are cut into bag lengths to start the manufacturing process proper bag size is determined by the lengths to which the sheets are cut as they fly across the web into the printing cylinder printing in up to four brilliant colors billboards your brand before the trade only a few of the many produced by be missus own ink plaques our Factory nearest you has an artist specially skilled in brand designing quality product reserve bright brands rugged and relatively coarse burlap is difficult to print but Bemis molded rubber plates of special compositions and inks of high quality with non rub characteristics do a beautiful job printing plates are stored awaiting another order waiting their turn on the sewing line these skids each carry 2,000 printed sheets in the sewing room folded seams on raw edges give maximum seam strength our clothes stitching minimizes sifting it takes good thread Bemis makes its own to make a good bag bags are now turned right side out you benefit through use of high speed manufacturing equipment because Bemis is the largest importer customers are in a favorable position in time of scarcity bales are carefully stacked and compressed for easy handling and to reduce shipping and warehousing space your bags are ready for you today all types of quality items are packaged and shipped in burlap bag seeds of all descriptions feeds and meals flour potatoes beans beet pulp chemicals oh and many others too numerous to mention from abrasives and alfalfa flex soybeans and tractor chains - zinnia burlap many trip bags deliver your product safely at low cost rough and tough bags and also peace goods for all purposes another Bemis product is tight fit tubing used to lower wrapping and baling cork laminated bags of burlap asphalt and paper and other combinations are made for chemical and other products which require special protection angus burlap is featured because of its excellent appearance extra quality and extreme strength yes Bemis is the headquarters for all grades and weight of burlap this romance of international trade the basis for worldwide understanding and peace provides our country with rough and tough inexpensive material for colorfully printed burlap bags manufactured by Bemis America's number one bag maker [Music]
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