ABSTRACT
After Beaconsfield’s fall in 1880 Gladstone came back to power. Throughout his rule the steady fall in prices continued, as it was to continue almost for the rest of the century. In Beaconsfield’s last year, wholesale prices had, it is true, taken an exceptional jump-up from 1879’s 98 to 1880’s 103. But from 1880 onwards they fell gradually and steadily to 1898’s 75. Wages, on the other hand, during that period were slightly but steadily on the rise. According to the Ministry of Labour’s figures, in 1880 they stood at 77 to 1914’s 100. By 1898 they had risen to 86. From that point of view the period was one of considerable and steady improvement, though even after all this improvement Charles Booth still found that in London “a million and a quarter persons fell habitually below the poverty line”. “32 per cent of the whole population of London (in some large districts over 60 per cent) were found to be living in a state of chronic poverty, which precluded not only the elementary conditions of civilization and citizenship but was incompatible with physical health or industrial efficiency.” 200
