“How did they get more of this organic wealth than the others have?”
“Oh, in various ways. By their superior enterprise for one thing. They saw in the beginning the necessity for transportation facilities for the blood, chyle, and so forth, and through their efforts the Venous and Arterial Transit Systems were established.”
“Do you mean that they formed the veins and arteries?”
“Oh, no, of course not. They had not the means for that, but the organism aided them, knowing that it would be a great thing to have this system established; that it would build up the organism.”
“I see; and then I suppose these rich corpuscles of the liver paid the organism back out of their gains?”
“Not exactly—that is to say—they’ve not yet done so. You see, somehow, the system has not paid as well as they thought it would. It seems there have been unforeseen exigencies, they have not been able to pay. In fact, they say the system is on the verge of insolvency.”
“But I thought you said the corpuscles owning it are the richest ones in the organism?”
“So they are; but that is their individual wealth, don’t you see? It takes all that the system can earn to pay expenses, and reimburse the management for their original outlay in getting things in running order. You could not expect them to invest their capital for nothing, you know.”
“But I understood you to say a little while ago that the organism advanced the means and that the management still owes for the advances.”
“Yes, yes, that is true. But, don’t you see, these corpuscles assumed the responsibility, and their enterprise merits some reward.”