Capitalist: Why All This Peripheral Stuff?

William Gladstone was the British prime minister between 1868 and ’74. During that government, he established universal education for children, introduced secret ballots for elections, reformed the military, reformed trade unions, reformed institutions to make them more meritoric, reformed the liquor industry and instituted a series of religious reforms in Ireland. His government also undertook lots of other minor things, mostly matters that promoted peace and capitalism. To an extent, Gladstone’s first government had an effect upon the world that is still being felt over a century and a half later.