The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-03-03
AN "HONEST" MILLION,
HOW LONG 1T WOULD TAKE TO
EARN" 1T.
-four Thousand Years at One Dollar Per
Day, and Thon the Cost Of Living
would Have to be Deducted from he
Total.

see as by Nazareth, once the home
OF the One whose gentle life and wise
teachings have so remarkably intlu-
enced the civilized world. The place
Is not particularly impressive, but
ones thoughts are ~thronged with mem
cries OF teachings which began at
mothers knee, then continued in the
Sunday school, church, etc, and con-
nected with every sacred relation, as
christenings, weddings and funerals.
And here was His home! We are
treadlng the very streets that He trod.
Inc views that meet our eyes in every
direction are scenes once familiar to
Him. Yonder plain of Esdraelon,
which we crossed in coming here, was
we'll known to Him. Yonder mountain
IS practically the same now as it was
when 1t was a familiar figure in His
daily landscape. l went to bed that
night with an impressive realization
that l was to sleep in the town which
was once His home. And when leav-
ing the next day l often turned my
horse about to look again and again at
the little town and its surrounding
hills and valleys-sccnes Of His daily
life.
In the last few years. during which
the industrial question has assumed
such great Importance in our country,
my mind has often gone back to those
scenes in Galilee. l have thought of
the principal actor, not as a teacher,
but as a workingman-the Carpenter
of Galilee. Millionaires and multi
mllllonalres have become numerous in
our country, bringing in their wake
an army Of unemployed, many of
whom, by force of conditions, degener-
ate into tramps and v~agabonds. Both
these classes, the m%illionaires and
tramps, are a detriment to the best
interests of OF. country. ! have made
4 calculation bearing upon the honesty
of these millions in private Golfers, and
to help us to realize what a sum a
million dollars is and what it is to
actually earn a million dollars. All
will agree that when a w~orlingman
car save 81 every working day in the
year he is doing we'll.
Our era begins with the birth Of
this Carpenter of Galilee. Let us sup
pose that He was able to begin work
on the day Of His birth and that each
working day He was able to save 81
above His living expenses. Let us
suppose that He never loses a day by
sickness OF bad weather, and that His
life and health and strength are mi
1aculously prolonged until lie shall
earn ST, 900, 900 by saving 81 for every
working day. Then we will be able
to realize what an honest million is.
We will trace our Workman who be-
gan work on the day Of His birth. At
the historic time Of His death, at the
age of SO, what would He be worth?
The calculation is easy-365 days
minus 50 Sundays equals 213 working
days in each year. Multiply that by
33 years and we have 1929 days; but
VIC must add eight days for eight leap
years. This would make it 10,337-and
81 per day saved would equal as many
dollars-S1O,337. Far from a million,
yet labor began at birth and never a
holiday nor a day lost by sickness.
Let us suppose that He had lived the
allotted 70 years; then how would the
account stand? Only 1927! Our
Workman has a long and weary task
before Him to earn SO large an amount
as a million dollars. Our hero must
trudg ealong through summers heat
and winters storms. Years and dec
AIDES come and go until they grow into
centuries, and still He works on, for
His task is only begun. He sees king
doms and empires rise and fall, but
still He labors on, for the greater part
of His task is still before Him.
Christians are prosecuted in various
countries, the Roman empire disap-
pears, the dark ages come and still He
labors on, his task not yet completed.
The crusades are fought, America is
discovered, M.1n"n science awakens
the world from it. stroud of darkness,
and still He labor3 o.. The stirring
events Of modern history transpire and
bring US down to the present moment,
and-would o believe it?-our Car
penter is still laboring on, not vet
having missed a single working day
from sickness or any other cause in
all these centuries. Let us see how
His tasl; would stand at this time. We
are not counting interest, but purely
the earnings of labor. We have seen
that His savings would be 1913 Der
year; this would be SCI 800 per cen
fury, but adding 25 days for 25 leap
years per century, it would be s31,325
per century. TO determine how His
account would stand at the beginning
of the present century multiply 1912
by IS, and the result is S5G1, $50, and
add $30,O4S for the IS years OF the
present century and the amount is
s591 1898. So the task at the present
time would be only a little more than
half done. Let us in imagination
bring Him before us. Here He comes.
time-scarred, storm-scarred, labor
SCARED. We ask Him questions. He
tells us interesting stories Of how He
has builded homes for princes and
peasants in many countries, Of how He