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{
    "localId": "229036172",
    "label": "Report, Background of Possible Items for Discussion on Wake Island",
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    "id": "229036172",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/229036172",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Report, Background of Possible Items for Discussion on Wake Island",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/229036172",
    "collections": [
        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Korean War Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Presidential trips"
    ],
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "logicalDate": "1950-10-01",
            "month": 10,
            "year": 1950
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{
    "seq": 80,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602194/976129/967129-01-080.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "REPORT ON THE PHILIPPINES\nThe international payments position of the country is seriously dis-\ntorted and a balance has been maintained in recent months only by imposing\nstrict import and exchange controls. The country has had an excessive\nvolume of imports, which hitherto could be paid for out of very large dollar\nreceipts from United States Government disbursements and accumulated dollar\nbalances. These balances have been drawn down and receipts from the United\nStates Government have been declining sharply. Greater difficulty will\nprobably be experienced in the future in paying for imports. In the mean\ntime, the volume of exports is less than before the war and can be expected\nto grow only gradually. Unless foreign exchange receipts are increased\nor excessive dependence on imports decreased, import and exchange controls\nwill have to become even more restrictive.\nCauses of the difficulties\nWhile production in general has been restored to almost the prewar\nlevel, little of fundamental importance was done to increase productive\nefficiency and to diversify the economy. In agriculture, the area under\ncultivation was brought to the prewar level, and the livestock population\npartially restored. But almost nothing was done to open new lands for the\nincreased population, to improve the methods of cultivation, or to better\nthe position of farm workers and tenants. In industry, production was\nrestored very much in the prewar pattern. While some new enterprises have\nbeen started, particularly in the past year, there has been little real\nprogress in opening new work opportunities and in strengthening the economy.\nThe country still relies too heavily on the export of a few basic agricul-\ntural crops==coconut, sugar and hemp==which provide a meager livelihood\nto most of the people engaged in their production.\nThe failure to expand production and to increase productive efficiency\nis particularly disappointing because investment was exceptionally high\nand foreign exchange receipts were exceptionally large during most of the\npost-liberation period. Too much of the investment went into commerce and\nreal estate instead of the development of agriculture and industry; invest-\nment undertaken by Government corporations has unfortunately been ineffective.\nA considerable part of the large foreign exchange receipts were dissipated in\nimports of luxury and non-essential goods, in the remittance of high profits,\nand in the transfer of Philippine capital abroad. The opportunity to in-\ncrease productive efficiency and to raise the standard of living in the\nPhilippines in the postwar period has thus been wasted because of misdirected\ninvestment and excessive imports for consumption.\nThe inequalities in income in the Philippines, always large, have become\neven greater during the past few years. While the standard of living of the\nmass of people has not reached the prewar level, the profits of businessmen\nand the incomes of large landowners have risen very considerably. Wages and\nfarm income remain lower than the economy can afford because of the unequal\nbargaining power of workers and tenants on the one hand, and employers and\nlandowners on the other. Under such conditions any policy that keeps prices\nhigh has the effect of transferring real income from the poor to the rich.\nThis is what has happened in the Philippines, where prices on the average are\nthree and a half times as high as prewar. The inflationary conditions which\nhave made this possible were caused by large budgetary deficits and an\nexcessive creation of credit, much of it for the Government and Government\ncorporations.\n- 2 -"
}