"But you must allow that nothing could be more mischievous. When next we go with our modest incomes against these landlords, they suppose that we too want rentals of fifteen thousand, whereas we would easily be satisfied with one of fifteen hundred or a thousand. The poor fellows' fancy is crazed by those prodigals, and we must all suffer for their madness. The extravagance of the new-comers does not affect the price of provisions so much, or of clothes; the whole population demands food and raiment within the general means, however much it must exceed its means in the cost of shelter. The spendthrifts cannot set the pace for such expenditures, no matter how much they lavish on their backs and—"
"Forbear!" we cried. "Turning from the danger we have saved you from, you will say, we suppose, that New York would be the cheapest of the great cities if it were not for the cost of shelter."
"Something like that," he assented.
"But as we understand, that difficulty is to be solved by co-operative, or composite, housing?"
"Something like that," he said again, but there was a note of misgiving in his voice.
"What is the 'out'?" we asked.
"There is no 'out,'" he said, with a deep, evasive sigh.
XII
THE QUALITY OF BOSTON AND THE QUANTITY OF NEW YORK