sand dollars per year on an
average for thirty-three and one-third years to earn one hundred
thousand dollars in a lifetime. I take it for granted that no one will
deny that it is possible for one to earn this sum by rendering a service
equal to it in value, but what shall we say of a million dollars? Can a
man earn that much? To do so he must earn _thirty_ thousand dollars a
year for thirty-three and one-third years. Is it possible for one to
render so large a service? I believe it is. Well, what shall we say
of ten millions? To earn that much one must earn on an average _three
hundred_ thousand dollars a year for thirty-three and one-third years.
Is it possible for one to render a service so large as to earn so vast
a sum? At the risk of shocking some of my radical friends I am going to
affirm that it is possible.

But can one earn an _hundred million_? Yes, I believe that it is even
possible to serve society to such an extent as to earn a hundred million
in the span of a human life, or an average of _three million_ a year for
thirty-three and one-third years. We have one man in this country who is
said to be worth five hundred million. To earn five hundred million one
must earn on an average _fifteen_ million a year for thirty-three and
one-third years. Is this within the range of human possibility? I
believe that it is. Now, I have gone as high as any one has yet gone
in collecting, but if there is any young man here with an ambition to
render a larger service to the world, I will raise it another notch, if
necessary, to encourage him. So almost limitless are the possibilities
of service in this age that I am not willing to fix a maximum to the sum
a man can honestly and legitimately earn.

Not only do I believe that one _can_ earn five hundred million, but I
believe that men _have_ earned it.

In this and other countries many in public life might be mentioned,
for even in politics men have great opportunities, which, if rightly
improved, enable them to render incalculable service to their fellowmen.

But let us go outside of politics. What shall we say of the man who gave
to the world a knowledge of the use of steam and revolutionized the
transportation of the globe? How much did he earn? And the man who
brought down lightning from the clouds and imprisoned it in a slender
wire so that it lights our homes, draws our traffic across the land and
carries our messages under the sea; what did he earn? And what of the