re,
young men and young women--and even parents--who still think that it
is more respectable for a young man to spend in idleness the money
some one else has earned than to be himself a producer of wealth.
And as long as this sentiment is to be found anywhere, there is
educational work to be done, for public opinion will never be what
it should be until it puts the badge of disgrace upon the idler, no
matter how rich he may be, rather than upon the man who with brain or
muscle contributes to the nation's wealth, the nation's strength
and the nation's progress. But, as I said, the inheritance is an
apparent, not an actual, exception, and we will return to the
original proposition--that one's earnings must be measured by the
service rendered. This is so important a proposition that I beg leave
to dwell upon it a moment longer, to ask whether it is possible to fix
in dollars and cents a maximum limit to the amount one can earn in a
lifetime.

Let us begin with one hundred thousand dollars. If we estimate a
working life at thirty-three years--and I think this is a fair
estimate--a man must earn a little more than three thousand dollars
per year for thirty-three 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. What shall we say of a million dollars? Can a man earn
that much? To do so he must earn a little more than thirty thousand
dollars a year for thirty-three years. Is it possible for one to
render so large a service? I believe that it is. Well, what shall we
say of ten million? To earn that much one must earn on an average
a little more than three hundred thousand a year for thirty-three
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 a 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 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 of
fifteen million a year for thirty-three years. Is this within the
range of human possibility? I believe that it is. Now, I have gone as
high as any one has y