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productive processes to become smoother and progressively-
automated. Processes formerly performed inefficiently
at far distant places or by awkward methods were combined,
simplified, and performed with increased speed. The new
technology permitted higher rates of production and placed
an increased reliance on materials needed for machines
used by producer and consumer alike. In the light of
changed technology, metals and mineral fuels assumed
new importance.
Finally, an abundance of resources of almost
every kind, including vast amounts of iron and copper
from which to create the complex of machinery and
structures needed for mass production, was on hand.
Resources were but one of the essential
ingredients of progress, and metals but one of those.
Yet the combination of developments in applied technology,
in learning, in social and economic institutions, coupled
with an appropriate spirit of the times in a new and
open environment, afforded conditions that made economic
progress a feasibly and with hindsight, almost a natural
occurrence. Attitudes and religion gave direction,
changing technology and social order afforded the means,
and abundant land and resources furnished the opportunity
for substantial economic advance. A phenomenally
wealthy land had come into the hands of people with the
knowledge, skills, and will to use it.