Let us begin with one hundred thousand dollars.  If we estimate a working life at thirty-three and one-third years—­and I think this is a fair estimate—­a man must earn three thousand 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 man who showed us how to hurl our messages thousands of miles through space without the aid of wire?  And how much did the man earn who taught us how to wrap the human voice around a little cylinder so that it can be laid away and echo throughout the ages?