d 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