Speech #850160033

In the years just preceding World War I. crude foodstuffs and materials were 40 percent of the exports and finished manufactures 31 percent. compared with 48 and 22 percent. respectively. for imports. In finished manufactures. imports still were double exports in the 1870s. but at the turn of the century the exports of them climbed above the imports and have remained above them ever since. The changes between 1876 and World War I occurred In a time of excess of general exports over imports. when domestic savings and capital were growing and immigration was supplementing the labor force. both facilitating the growth of industry. World War I sharply changed the development of our economy and our world relations. The needs of the belligerent nations. and our needs when we became one of them. called for a tremendous increase in our productive capacities. industrial. mineral. and agricultural. during World War I and an even greater increase during World War II.