Prices in 1923

Sugar, 4.20 escudos per kilo; rice, 1.70 to 2.40 escudos per kilo; olive oil, 6.00 escudos per litre; salt cod, 5.00 escudos per kilo; potatoes, 50 to 70 centavos per kilo; coffee, 7.00 to 8.00 escudos per kilo; pork, 5.00 escudos per kilo; beef, 4.00 escudos per kilo; onions, 1.50 escudos per kilo; barley, 10.00 escudos per alqueire (dry measure for grain; as a land measure c. 900 m²); tea, 12.00 to 20.00 escudos per kilo; Lisbon chouriço sausage, 14.00 escudos per kilo; peas, 12.00 escudos per alqueire; broad beans, 11.00 escudos per alqueire; beans, 20.00 and 21.00 escudos per alqueire; chickpeas, 1.40 to 2.00 escudos per kilo; milk, 50 centavos per bottle; butter, 9.00 to 10.00 escudos per kilo; pasta, 2.30 to 2.40 escudos per kilo; maize, 1.20 escudos per kilo; eggs, 3.60 escudos per dozen; bread, 1.30 to 1.40 escudos per kilo; paraffin, 2.00 escudos per litre; cheese, 14.00 to 16.00 escudos per kilo; soap, 4.40 escudos per kilo; potatoes (Madeiran semilha), 50 centavos to 1.20 escudos per kilo; wheat, 12.00 escudos per alqueire; candles, 2.80 and 3.00 escudos per bundle; and vinegar, 80 centavos per litre.

It should come as no surprise that tea and paraffin, for example, which are foreign goods, cost seven and twenty times more today (1921) than in 1914. What has no possible explanation, despite the excessive wages demanded by farm labourers, is that not only Portuguese goods but even those produced in Madeira are being sold at prices fifteen, twenty and even fifty times higher than before. If we turn from groceries to fabrics of various kinds and to articles of clothing, the discrepancies are greater still. The ever-rising cost of living has made the situation of some classes that once lived in comfort very hard indeed.