laid themselves down in the grave, and slept the sleep
of death, and the world talks of them while they sleep! And as in the
sun's eclipse we can behold the great stars shining in the heavens, so
in this life-eclipse have these men beheld the lights of the great
eternity, burning solemnly and forever!"
And now what is to be the outcome of this great expenditure upon the
highway which unites the two cities, for which Dr. Storrs and I have
the honor to speak to-day? That Brooklyn will gain in numbers and in
wealth with accelerated speed is a foregone conclusion. Whether this
gain shall in any wise be at the expense of New York, is a matter in
regard to which the great metropolis does not concern herself. Her
citizens are content with the knowledge that she exists and grows
with the growth of the whole country, of whose progress and prosperity
she is but the exponent and the index. Will the Bridge lead, as has
been forcibly suggested, and in some quarters hopefully anticipated,
to the further union of the two cities under one name and one
government? This suggestion is in part sentimental and in part
practical. So far as the union in name is concerned, it is scarcely
worth consideration, for in any comparison which our national or local
pride may institute between this metropolis and the other great cities
of the world, its environment, whether in Long Island, Staten Island,
or New Jersey, will always be included. In considering the population
of London, no one ever separates the city proper from the surrounding
parts. They are properly regarded as one homogeneous aggregation of
human beings.
It is only when we come to consider the problem of governing great
masses that the serious elements of the question present themselves,
and must be determined before a satisfactory answer can be given. The
tendency of modern civilization is towards the concentration of
population in dense masses. This is due to the higher and more
diversified life, which can be secured by association and co-operation
on a large scale, affording not merely greater comfort and often
luxury, but actually distributing the fruits of labor on a more
equitable basis than is possible in sparsely settled regions and among
feeble communities. The great improvements of our day in labor-saving
machinery, and its application to agriculture, enable the nation to be
fed with a less percentage of its total force thus applied, and leave
a larger margin of populat
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