Not sure about making the 144k figurative, could be...
What I do know is that the WTS *needed* more partakers. The only ones partaking were incredibly old; in a few years there would have been essentially no one partaking. Anyone think that having NO ANOINTED CLASS wouldn't be a *major* problem for the WTS? So, out the window goes the 1935 teaching and the number of partakers begins rising. (I personally doubt the validity of the numbers published by the WTS, but that's irrelevant.)
And so here we now are, with a well-stocked anointed class, good for years to come, and no one questioning the young, anointed GB members.
Wag the dog...