The basic strategy of industry is to balance three variables as closely as possible: labor, industrial capacity, and arriving resources and materials. If you use valuable assets building up one of these three, but not the others, those assets are wasted until the other variables are also expanded. Your growth rate is highest when all three increase at the same rate.
Labor increases using money and paper in the Trade School, and using canned food, furniture, and clothing in the capitol building.
Industrial capacity increases using steel and lumber to expand each mill or factory individually.
The amount of arriving resources grows as you develop your transport network, increase your transport capacity, develop trade partners, and build additional merchant marine.
