Читать книгу: «Opening Ceremonies of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, May 24, 1883», страница 2

Address of Wm. C. Kingsley, President of the Board of Trustees

In the presence of this great assemblage, and of the chosen representatives of the people of these two great cities, of the Governor of the State of New York and of the President of the United States, the pleasing duty devolves upon me, as the official agent of the Board of Trustees of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, to announce formally to the chief magistrates of these two municipalities that this Bridge is now ready to be opened for public use, and is subject in its control and management only to such restrictions as the people, to whom it belongs, may choose to impose upon themselves. If I were at liberty to consult my own wishes I should not attempt to occupy your attention any further. I am not here as the spokesman of my associates in the Board of Bridge Trustees. They are well content to let this great structure speak for them, and to speak more fittingly and more eloquently yet for the skillful, faithful and daring men who have given so many years of their lives – and in several instances even their lives – to the end that the natural barrier to the union, growth and greatness of this great commercial centre should be removed, and that a vast scientific conception should be matched in the skill, and courage, and endurance upon which it depended for its realization. With one name, in an especial sense, this Bridge will always be associated – that of Roebling. At the outset of this enterprise we were so fortunate as to be able to secure the services of the late John A. Roebling, who had built the chief suspension bridges in this country, and who had just then completed the largest suspension bridge ever constructed up to that time. His name and achievements were of invaluable service to this enterprise in its infancy. They secured for it a confidence not otherwise obtainable. He entered promptly and with more than professional zeal into the work of erecting a bridge over the East River. As is universally known, while testing and perfecting his surveys his foot was crushed between the planks of one of our piers; lockjaw supervened, and the man who designed this Bridge lost his life in its service. The main designs were, however, completed by the elder Roebling before he met his sad and untimely death. He was succeeded at once by his son, Colonel Washington A. Roebling, who had for years before shared in his father's professional confidences and labors. Here the son did not succeed the father by inheritance merely. The elder Roebling, according to his own statements, would not have undertaken the conduct of this work at his age – and he was independent of mere professional gain – if it were not for the fact, as he frequently stated, that he had a son who was entirely capable of building this Bridge. Indeed, the elder Roebling advised that the son, who was destined to carry on and complete the work, should be placed in chief authority at the beginning. The turning point – as determining the feasibility of this enterprise – was reached down in the earth, and under the bed of the East River. During the anxious days and nights while work was going on within the caissons, Colonel Roebling seemed to be always on hand, at the head of his men, to direct their efforts, and to guard against a mishap or a mistake which, at this stage of the work, might have proved to be disastrous. The foundations of the towers were successfully laid, and the problem of the feasibility of the Bridge was solved. Colonel Roebling contracted the mysterious disease in the caissons which had proved fatal to several of the workmen in our employ. For many long and weary years this man, who entered our service young and full of life, and hope, and daring, has been an invalid and confined to his home. He has never seen this structure as it now stands, save from a distance. But the disease, which has shattered his nervous system for the time, seemed not to have enfeebled his mind. It appeared even to quicken his intellect. His physical infirmities shut him out, so to speak, from the world, and left him dependent largely on the society of his family, but it gave him for a companion day and night this darling child of his genius – every step of whose progress he has directed and watched over with paternal solicitude. Colonel Roebling may never walk across this Bridge, as so many of his fellow-men have done to-day, but while this structure stands he will make all who use it his debtor. His infirmities are still such that he who would be the centre of interest on this occasion, and even in this greatly distinguished company, is conspicuous by his absence. This enterprise was only less fortunate in securing an executive head than in obtaining scientific direction. For sixteen years together the late Hon. Henry C. Murphy stood for this work wherever it challenged the enmity of an opponent or needed an advocate, a supporter and a friend. He devised the legislation under which it was commenced. He staked in its inception a large portion of his private fortune on its success. He upheld its feasibility and utility before committees, and legislatures, and law courts, and in every forum of public discussion. For years he looked forward to this day to fittingly close the activities of a long, useful and, in many respects, an illustrious career. It was not permitted him to see it, but he saw very near the end, and he lived long enough to realize, what is now admitted, that he was to the end of his days engaged in a work from which the name of the city he loved so well will never be disassociated, for it is a work the history of which will for all time be embraced in the records of the achievements of American enterprise and of American genius. I am sure I speak for the Board of Trustees in returning their thanks to all the professional gentlemen who have been in our employ – and especially to Messrs. Martin, Paine, Farrington, McNulty and Probasco. For the most part these men have been engaged on the Bridge from its commencement to its completion. It has always seemed to the Trustees as if the highest and the humblest workmen engaged on this work were alike influenced by the spirit of enterprise in which the Bridge had its origin. Men whose daily compensation was not more than sufficient to provide them and their families with their daily bread were at all times ready to take their lives in their hands in the performance of the imperative and perilous duties assigned them. In the direct prosecution of the work twenty men lost their lives. Peace hath its victories, and it has its victims and its martyrs, too. Of the seven consulting engineers to whom the matured plans of the elder Roebling were submitted – all men of the highest eminence in their profession – three have passed away, and four are living to witness, in the assured success of this structure, the one ratification of their judgment which cannot be questioned.

It remains for me to say, in conclusion, that the two cities rose at all times to the level of the spirit of our time and country. Their citizens staked millions on what seemed to many to be an experiment – a structure, it was often said, that at its best would not be of any actual use. How solid it is; how far removed it is from all sense of apprehension; how severely practical it is in all its relations, and how great a factor in the corporate lives of these cities it is destined to be, we all now realize. This Bridge has cost many millions of dollars, and it has taken many years to build it. May I say on this occasion that the people whom you represent (turning to where the Mayors of the two cities stood together) would not part with the Bridge to-day for even twice or thrice its cost? And may I remind those who, not unnaturally, perhaps, have been disappointed and irritated by delays in the past, that those who enter a race with Time for a competitor have an antagonist that makes no mistakes, is subject to no interference and liable to no accident.

Address of Hon. Seth Low, Mayor of the City of Brooklyn

Gentlemen of the Trustees – With profound satisfaction, on behalf of the City of Brooklyn, I accept the completed Bridge. Fourteen times the earth has made its great march through the heavens since the work began. The vicissitudes of fourteen years have tried the courage and the faith of engineers and of people. At last we all rejoice in the signal triumph. The beautiful and stately structure fulfills the fondest hope. It will be a source of pleasure to-day to every citizen that no other name is associated with the end than that which has directed the work from the beginning – the name of Roebling. With all my heart I give to him who bears it now the city's acknowledgment and thanks.

Fourteen years ago a city of 400,000 people on this side of the river heard of a projected suspension bridge with incredulity. The span was so long, the height so great, and the enterprise likely to be so costly, that few thought of it as something begun in earnest. The irresistible demands of commerce enforced these hard conditions. But Science said, "It is possible," and Courage said, "It shall be!" To-day a city of 600,000 people welcomes with enthusiasm the wonderful creation of genius. Graceful, and yet majestic, it clings to the land like a thing that has taken root. Beautiful as a vision of fairyland it salutes our sight. The impression it makes upon the visitor is one of astonishment, an astonishment that grows with every visit. No one who has been upon it can ever forget it. This great structure cannot be confined to the limits of local pride. The glory of it belongs to the race. Not one shall see it and not feel prouder to be a man.

And yet it is distinctly an American triumph. American genius designed it, American skill built it, and American workshops made it. About 1837 the Screw Dock across the river, then known as the Hydrostatic Lifting Dock, was built. In order to construct it the Americans of that day were obliged to have the cylinders cast in England. What a stride from 1837 to 1883 – from the Hydrostatic Dock to the New York and Brooklyn Bridge!

And so this Bridge is a wonder of science. But in no less degree it is a triumph of faith. I speak not now of the courage of those who projected it. Except for the faith which removes mountains yonder river could not have been spanned by this Bridge. It is true that the material which has gone into it has been paid for; the labor which has been spent upon it has received its hire. But the money which did these things was not the money of those who own the Bridge. The money was lent to them on the faith that these two great cities would redeem their bond. So have the Alps been tunneled in our day; while the ancient prophecy has been fulfilled that faith should remove mountains. We justify this faith in us as we pay for the Bridge by redeeming the bond.

In the course of the construction of the Bridge a number of lives have been lost. Does it not sometimes seem as though every work of enduring value, in the material as in the moral world, must needs be purchased at the cost of human life? Let us recall with kindness at this hour the work of those who labored here faithfully unto the death, no less than of that great army of men who have wrought, year in and year out, to execute the great design. Let us give our meed of praise to-day to the humblest workman who has here done his duty well, no less than to the great engineer who told him what to do.

The importance of this Bridge in its far-reaching effects at once entices and baffles the imagination. At either end of the Bridge lies a great city – cities full of vigorous life. The activities and the energies of each flow over into the other. The electric current has conveyed unchecked between the two the interchanging thoughts, but the rapid river has ever bidden halt to the foot of man. It is as though the population of these cities had been brought down to the river-side, year after year, there to be taught patience; and as though, in this Bridge, after these many years, patience had had her perfect work. The ardent merchant, the busy lawyer, the impatient traveler – all, without distinction and without exception – at the river have been told to wait. No one can compute the loss of time ensuing daily from delays at the ferries to the multitudes crossing the stream. And time is not only money – it is opportunity. Brooklyn becomes available, henceforth, as a place of residence to thousands, to whom the ability to reach their places of business without interruption from fog and ice is of paramount importance. To all Brooklyn's present citizens a distinct boon is given. The certainty of communication with New York afforded by the Bridge is the fundamental benefit it confers. Incident to this is the opportunity it gives for rapid communication.

As the water of the lakes found the salt sea when the Erie Canal was opened, so surely will quick communication seek and find this noble Bridge, and as the ships have carried hither and thither the products of the mighty West, so shall diverging railroads transport the people swiftly to their homes in the hospitable city of Brooklyn. The Erie Canal is a waterway through the land connecting the great West with the older East. This Bridge is a landway over the water, connecting two cities bearing to each other relations in some respects similar. It is the function of such works to bless "both him that gives and him that takes." The development of the West has not belittled, but has enlarged New York, and Brooklyn will grow by reason of this Bridge, not at New York's expense, but to her permanent advantage. The Brooklyn of 1900 can hardly be guessed at from the city of to-day. The hand of Time is a mighty hand. To those who are privileged to live in sight of this noble structure every line of it should be eloquent with inspiration. Courage, enterprise, skill, faith, endurance – these are the qualities which have made the great Bridge, and these are the qualities which will make our city great and our people great. God grant they never may be lacking in our midst. Gentlemen of the Trustees, in accepting the Bridge at your hands, I thank you warmly in Brooklyn's name for your manifold and arduous labors.

Address of Hon. Franklin Edson, Mayor of the City of New York

Mr. President – On behalf of the City of New York, I accept the great work which you now tender as ready for the public use of the two cities which it so substantially and, at the same time, so gracefully joins together.

The City of New York joyfully unites with the City of Brooklyn in extending to you, sir, and to those who have been associated with you, sincere congratulations upon the successful completion of this grand highway, establishing, as it does, an enduring alliance between these two great cities. Through the wisdom, energy, zeal and patience of yourself and your co-laborers in this vast enterprise, we are enabled this day to recognize the fact that a common and unbroken current flows through the veins of these two cities, which must add in no small degree to the strength, healthful growth and prosperity of both, and we believe that what has thus been joined together shall never be put asunder.

When, more than fifteen years ago, you, Mr. President, foresaw the advantages that would surely accrue to these cities from the establishment of such a means of communication between them, few could be found to look upon such advantages as other than, at best, problematical. To-day, however, they are recognized, and so fully, that before this Bridge was completed the building of another not far distant had begun to be seriously considered.

It was forty years after the vast advantages of water communication between the Hudson and the great lakes had dawned upon the mind of Washington, in the course of a tour through the valley of the Mohawk, that such a work came to be appreciated by the people, and resulted in that grand artery of wealth to our State, the Erie Canal. So I believe it has ever been in the past with the initiation and construction of great public works, and with the introduction of agencies and methods which have been of the greatest benefit to mankind throughout the world, and so perhaps it will ever be. Yet, for the welfare of these two cities, let us venture the hope that the tide of improvement and of active preparation is setting in, for it behooves us more than most are aware to be forecasting our future necessities, and to recognize the fact that

 
There is a tide in the affairs of cities,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
 

It is not difficult for most of us to look back twenty-five years and see clearly the wonderful strides which have been made in population, commerce, manufacturing and financial interests, and in all the industries which help to make great and prosperous communities; nor is it difficult to trace the wonders that have been wrought through the agencies of steam and electricity within those years. But to look forward twenty-five years and attempt to discern the condition of things in this metropolis, if they shall continue to move forward on the same scale of progress, is an undertaking that few can grasp. No one dares accept the possibilities that are forced upon the mind in the course of its contemplation. Will these two cities ere then have been consolidated into one great municipality, numbering within its limits more than five millions of people? Will the right of self-government have been accorded to the great city, thus united, and will her people have learned how best to exercise that right? Will the progress of improvement and the preparation for commerce, manufactories and trade, and for the comforts of home for poor and rich, have kept pace with the demand in the great and growing city? Will the establishment of life-giving parks, embellished with appropriate fountains and statues and with the numberless graces of art, which at once gladden the eye and raise the standard of civilization, have kept abreast with its growth in wealth and numbers?

These are but few of the pertinent questions which must be answered by the zealous and honest acts of the generation of men already in active life. Here are the possibilities; all the elements and conditions are here; but the results must depend upon the wisdom and patriotism and energy of those who shall lead in public affairs. May they be clothed with a spirit of wisdom and knowledge akin to that which inspired those who conceived and executed the great work which we receive at your hands and dedicate to-day.