"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." Speaking of a glance forward for twenty-five years, Mayor Edson said:--