If each individual were left absolutely to the care of his own interests, and were given time enough in which to grow exceedingly old, his fortune would pass as his strength and will.

He and his would be utterly dissolved and scattered unto the four winds of the heavens.
But now see wherein the parallel changes.

A fortune, like a man, is an organism which draws to itself other minds and other strength than that inherent in the founder.

Beside the young minds drawn to it by salaries, it becomes allied with young forces, which make for its existence even when the strength and wisdom of the founder are fading.

It may be conserved by the growth of a community or of a state.