Table 20. Percentage Distribution and Per cent Change in the Foreign Trade with Leading Countries

While imports from several of the principal European countries in 1924 had increased less than 50 per cent in value as compared with pre-war, those from the Scandinavian countries more than trebled. Imports from most of the countries outside of Europe show high rate of increase. The imports from Colombia, Chile, and Japan were between four and five times greater in value in 1924, than before the war, and those from Canada and China increased three and one-half fold.

As between 1923 and 1924 there was no change in the rank of the seven leading countries in our export trade. In the case of imports there was no change in the rank among the first five countries, but China fell from sixth to tenth place and Germany from seventh to ninth place, while Brazil rose from ninth to sixth place.

In 1924 as in 1910-1914 the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and France were in order the first four countries in our export trade, but for each of these the proportion was lower last year than before the war, and the ranking of a number of the other countries has changed materially; Japan, for example, rising from eleventh place to ifth. Before the war the United Kingdom furnished us one-sixth of our imports and ranked first among countries of origin. In 1924 its proportion had fallen to one-tenth, and first place had been taken

by Canada. Germany furnished over one-tenth of our imports before the war and less than four per cent in 1924. France's position dropped from third to eight. Japan, on the other hand, furnished us one-twentieth of our imports before the war, and nearly one-tenth in 1924, rising from eighth to fourth place, and the British East Indies rose from seventh to fifth place.

Trade with each principal country by principal individual articles is shown in Table 42 at the end of this chapter.

TRADE BY COMMODITY GROUPS AND ECONOMIC CLASSES For the purpose of convenient presentation of the statistics of trade in individual commodities these are arranged in the official reports under 10 great commodity groups. The grouping is based primarily on the origin or character of the articles themselves or of the raw materials enetering into the more advanced products. In a number of cases a single commodity group comprises articles widely different in economic character, that is, in degree of elaboration or in use. The textile group, for example, includes raw fibers, partly manufactured products such as yarns, and finished products such as cotton, wool and silk fabrics, knit goods and garments. The total value of the exports or the imports of a commodity group of such diverse components is of no great statistical significance.

When, however, such a commodity group is broken up and the articles falling within it classified according to use or degree of elaboration that is, divided among the five great economic classes above discussed-the figures for the commodity groups take on much significance. (Table 21.)

Our exports of animals and animal products are highly varied in use; roughly three-fourths, in value, consist of manufactured foodstuffs (meats, animal fats, etc.), a small proportion of crude foodstuffs (principally live animals and eggs in shell), about one-tenth of crude materials for manufacture (principally hides and skins and furs), and about one-eighth of semimanufactures (principally leather), together with a comparatively small value of finished manufactures (principally boots and shoes). Several of the commodity groups, of course, contain no foodstuffs, and the group "Machinery and vehicles" consists exclusively of finished manufactures. The second group includes, besides vegetable food products, all oil seeds and vegetable oils, some of which, especially important among our imports, are used exclusively or largely for nonfood purposes. The third group represents vegetable products (other than foodstuffs, textiles, wood, and paper), and consists chiefly of crude materials.

Table 21.-Domestic Exports from and Imports into the United States during the Calendar Years 1923 and 1924 by Commodity Groups and Economic Classes

[Values in millions and tenths of millions of dollars, i. e., 00,000 omitted]

In the textile group crude materials predominate in both exports and imports, though there are also large quantities of finished manufactures in both. In the wood and paper group semimanufactures are a large fraction of both exports and imports since here are included lumber and sawn timbers as well as wood pulp, a leading

article of import; finished manufactures, however, are also important.

Among nonmetallic minerals coal and crude petroleum are the principal crude materials, and refined mineral oils and glass the principal finished manufactures. Of the semimanufactured imports of this group, cut or unset precious stones are the chief item, while among exports are included a number of articles such as gas oil, paraffine wax, cement, and coke. In the metal group only ores count as crude materials, while under semimanufactures are smelted but unwrought metals such as pig iron, copper, lead, zinc, and tin, as well as a number of rolled steel products which are subject ordinarily to further manufacture; semimanufactured being predominant among both the imports and the exports of this group. The importance of finished manufactures of metals is not fully brought out by this grouping since machinery and vehicles (primarily metallic products) are shown as a separate group.

Most of the cruder chemicals are classed as semimanufactures, the great bulk of the imports of chemicals and allied products falling in this economic class, while among exports finished products predominate. The miscellaneous group includes a wide variety of products, mostly finished manufactures; leading items are photographic supplies, musical instruments, office supplies, toys, and sporting goods.

Among the larger export items shown in Table 21, the most striking changes between 1923 and 1924 were: A decline in exports of manufactured animal foodstuffs, an increase in crude vegetable foodstuffs, an increase in textile crude materials, a decrease in nonmetallic crude materials (principally in coal), an increase in finished manufactures of nonmetallic minerals (principally in refined petroleum), an increase in semimanufactures of metals (largely in copper), and an increase in machinery and vehicles. Among the imports there was a marked decrease in crude animal materials (principally in hides and skins), a considerable increase in vegetable crude foodstuffs, and a marked decrease in textile crude materials.

The percentage distribution of each of the economic classes by commodity groups is shown in Table 22. This table indicates, for example, that about 72 per cent of the value of our exports of crude materials are textiles.

Table 22.-Percentage Distribution of Each Economic Class by Commodity Groups, Calendar Year 1924

Tables 23 and 24 list the 25 principal articles of export from the United States in the order of their value in 1924. (See also Chart XII.) A number of the items represent not specific single commodities but groups of closely related articles. The scope of each such group is fairly clear from the designation given except perhaps in the case of iron and steel products; this item includes those heavier products which are made in what are ordinarily called steel works, most of them having been subjected only to processes of rolling or casting, though some, like tubes, wire, and nails, have been further manipulated. More highly elaborated articles, such as tools, hardware, cutlery, and machinery, are not included in this item.