Which of the following best surmanzes the central idea of this excerpt? Read the excerpt from "Opening Ceremonies of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge" by Hon. Seth Low, Mayor of the City of Brooklyn 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 enduning 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 bere faithfully unto the death, no less than of that great army of men who have wrought year in and year ou to execute the great design Let us give our meed of praise to-day to the humblesł worloman who has here done his duty well, no less than to the great engineer who told him what to do O The mayor gently lectures on the importance of speaking kindly about those who have died The mayor commemorates and gives paarse to those who were killed while building the bridge O Low gives a monotonous explanation of the costs of the materials that were purchased for the bridge O Low remembers those humble men who labored intensely and they to execute this dream

on this day in 1939, in response to hitler’s invasion of poland, britain and france, both allies of the overrun nation declare war on germany.

the first casualty of that declaration was not german—but the british ocean liner athenia, which was sunk by a german u-30 submarine that had assumed the liner was armed and belligerent. there were more than 1,100 passengers on board, 112 of whom lost their lives. of those, 28 were americans, but president roosevelt was unfazed by the tragedy, declaring that no one was to “thoughtlessly or falsely talk of america sending its armies to european fields.” the united states would remain neutral.

as for britain’s response, it was initially no more than the dropping of anti-nazi propaganda leaflets—13 tons of them—over germany. they would begin bombing german ships on september 4, suffering significant losses. they were also working under orders not to harm german civilians. the german military, of course, had no such restrictions. france would begin an offensive against germany’s western border two weeks later. their effort was weakened by a narrow 90-mile window leading to the german front, enclosed by the borders of luxembourg and belgium—both neutral countries. the germans mined the passage, stalling the french offensive.

c, because the american revolution was from 1765 to 1783.

our current president donald trump