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that, with population increasing faster than our food sup- 

 ply, we needed to keep an increasing proportion of our food 

 products at home in order to supply our own needs. 



Constant emphasis on our export market for food has led 

 us to the popular conclusion that our foreign trade in food 

 shows, and always has shown, a large export balance. It is 

 true that we normally export considerable amounts of cer- 

 tain foods, including lard, fruit, and tobacco (which may be 

 considered a food only if it is chewed). But we also import 

 large amounts of non-competing foods such as coffee, cocoa, 

 tea, bananas, and spices. In addition, we normally import 

 competing foods such as beef, sugar, and vegetable oils. 

 Changes in the quantities of these exports and imports re- 

 lated to changes in our population over a period of years 

 indicate that foreign trade is more a result than a cause of 

 economic changes in this country. 



Normally We Eat More Than We Produce 



In general, during the past quarter of a century, the agri- 

 cultural production of the nation has not kept pace with its 

 population. From 1910 to 1914 our imports of food approxi- 

 mately equaled our exports. Even under the pressures of 

 World War I, net exports reached a maximum of only about 5 

 per cent of our production. When relieved of this pressure, an 

 excess of imports was quickly re-established. Thereafter, our 

 agricultural imports exceeded exports most of the time. From 

 before World War I to the twenties and early thirties the net 

 excess of food imports over exports rose from 0.2 to about 2 

 per cent of our production. From the more or less normal 

 crops of 1923-32 to the good crops of 1937-40, the net im- 

 ports of food rose to about 3 per cent of our production. From 

 the twenties to our participation in World War II, there was 

 a continual excess of food imports over exports. Prices rose 

 and fell violently. The loss of our foreign market and rising 



