Table 23.—Quantity and Value of Twenty-five Principal Domestic Commodities Exported, Arranged According to Value in 1924

1 Automobiles only; full figure (000 not omitted). Machinery, except electric and agricultural.

These figures are the sums of items shown by quantity and exclude a small amount included in value figures; therefore figures are not strictly comparable by this amount.

Owing to changes in classification these figures are smaller than they would be if on the present basis of classification; value represents the totals of items for which quantity data were reported.

Cotton has at all times been the leading export of the United States but its proportion of the total value of exports in recent years has been less than before the war. In 1924 cotton represented 21.1 per cent of the total, refined mineral oils, 8.7 per cent; wheat and flour, 7.3 per cent; automobiles and parts, 4.6 per cent; and machinery (other than electrical and agricultural), 4.2 per cent.

The most marked increase in 1924 over the preceding year appears in the exports of wheat (including flour), the quantity of which increased 38.6 per cent and the value 60.4 per cent. The increase was wholly in wheat grain. Rye, though a much less important export, shows similar sharp increases. Very striking also was the increase of nearly 25 per cent in the value of automobiles exported.

Among the 25 articles listed in the table there were 10 which showed increases in exports in 1924 as compared with 1923, both in quantity and value, namely, cotton, mineral oils, wheat and flour, automobiles, leaf tobacco, copper, rye, crude petroleum, oil cake and oil-cake meal, condensed milk and cream. In addition five items, electrical machinery, agricultural machinery, all other ma

chinery, leather, and fruits, which are not as groups measured quan titatively, showed increases in the value of exports. Animal fats and oils were the only class to show a decrease in the quantity accompanied by an increase (very slight) in the value. The following articles decreased both in quantity and in value of exports: Iron and steel, meats, coal and coke, refined sugar, cigarettes, and corn (grain). There were decreases in the value of exports of cotton manufactures and of paper, totals for which in terms of quantities are not available. Lumber was the only commodity in the list with an increase in quantity exported, accompanied by a decrease in value.

Table 24.-Per cent Change in the Leading Domestic Exports and Percentage Which Each Forms of the Total Value of Domestic Exports

1 Based on totals of items for which quantity data were reported in 1910-1914. See notes 2 and 3, Table 24. 'Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.

Comparison of the exports of these 25 articles in 1924 with those of 1910-1914 shows corn to be the only commodity of which the exports in terms of value declined. Among the items for which quantities are available there are, besides corn, four others of which less was exported in 1924 than before the war, namely, cotton (a decrease

39799-25†

of 21 per cent), iron and steel (22 per cent), lumber and oil cake. All the other articles show increases in quantity. The export of automobiles increased no less than nine-fold, in number.

Chart XII.—VALUE OF LEADING DOMESTIC EXPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES

1910-14 1923 1924

ANIMAL FATS & OILS (LARD, ETC ELECTRIC MACHINERY & APPARATUS

Exports of principal articles to principal individual countries are shown in Table 43 at the end of this chapter.

Imports of Principal Individual Commodities.

The changes in the imports of the principal commodities are shown in Tables 25 and 26 and Chart XIII. Most of the items represent specific articles, though several of them are in the nature of groups.

Sugar ranked first among our imports in 1924, displacing raw silk, for several years our most valuable import. Before the war sugar imports were slightly less in value than those of hides and skins, and silk then occupied fifth place. Coffee and rubber rank third and fourth now as they did in pre-war years.

Table 25. Quantity and Value of Twenty-five Principal Commodities Imported Arranged According to Value in 1924

1 Owing to changes in classification these figures are slightly larger than they would be if on the present basis of classification.

Includes product of the Philippines and scrap and other unmanufactured.

These figures are the sums of items shown by quantity and exclude minor items included in value figures, quantity figures for years indicated are not strictly comparable with those for later years. Quantity data not available.

Several of the leading import commodities exhibited marked price changes as between 1923 and 1924, and as a result a number of items show opposite movements as regards quantity and as regards value. Of the 25 listed only 7 show increases in 1924 as compared with 1923 in both quantity and value, namely, coffee (the increase in quantity, however, being slight, while that in value was heavy), newsprint paper, wood pulp, tobacco, fertilizers, unrefined copper (including ore, matte, etc.), and fish. In addition there were increases in the value of imports of furs, the total for which can not be given in terms

of quantity. Furthermore, the value of crude mineral oil imported rose in the face of some decline in the quantity, and the same is true of tin. There were thus ten leading imports the value of which increased. Decreases appeared both in quantity and value in the case of wool, hides and skins, vegetable oils, burlaps, diamonds,

Chart XIII.-VALUE OF LEADING IMPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES

There was

lumber, unmanufactured cotton, flax-seed, and cocoa. a decrease also in the value of imports of wool manufactures, cotton manufactures, and fruits, items which are not totalled by quantity. Finally, in the case of three articles of the first magnitude, the value of the imports fell off notwithstanding increases in quantities, the