Atlas Shrugged – Day 028 – pp. 274-283
“Owen Kellogg.”
It’s the kid with all the promise Dagny wanted to make manager of the midwest region. The one who quit and dropped off the face of the earth so mysteriously. Doing transient labor now?
“Listen Kellogg, what do you think is going to happen to the world?”
“You wouldn’t care to know.”
What do we suppose he knows?
Scene shift to Dagny’s apartment. She’s lost in thought. She has returned the John Galt Line to Taggart Trans which has become the Rio Norte once again. Just in time apparently. The old John Galt offices have been condemned and are coming down.
Hank lets himself in. Apparently he’s a regular visitor now. He’s coming from a dinner at which he was the guest of honor. The National Council of Metal Industries.
Their dire prediciotns for Readrden Metal have proved wrong and this is sort of a “peace offering” from them to Hank. (It is a group Hank has refused to join, further emphasizing his rebellious, alone-against-the-world nature.)
But the whole affair was nothing more than a sham. They did not use the event to praise Hank, nor save face with the public. They didn’t use is to curry any kind of favor with him. He wonders what their actual motive was.
“It’s as if they’d heard that there are values one is supposed to honor and this is what one does to honor them — so they went through the motions, like ghosts pulled by some sort of distant echoes from a better age.”
Now they talk a bit about work. And mention the Equalization of Opportunity Bill. Hank is convinced that it will never fly. The country is on their side and he still thinks that his guys in Washington will get the whole thing scrapped.
And now talks turn to vacation. Hank proposes a road trip. Just the two of them. They’ll travel where no one knows them. Leave the troubles of their offices behind them and just go. . . (sounds nice)
And they’re off on the road. . .
While they’re traveling, Hank suggests they divert their route to look at some mill properties he’s considering. (Combining a little business with pleasure I guess.)
Dagny’s a bit stressed still. She’s thinking about the trancontinental line she has planned. But it won’t be worth a damn if she can’t get new diesel engines.
“Ted Nielsen of Colorado is your man.”
“Yes, if he finds a way to open his new plant. He’s sunk more money than he should into the bonds of the John Galt Line.”
Anyway, Dagny wants to go see some property. The Twentieth Century Motor Company in Wisconsin.
“That was one of the best motor firms in my youth. Perhaps the best. I seem to remember that there was something odd about the way it went out of business.”
Took ’em three days of asking directions, but they finally find the location of the plant.
As they drive toward it, they pass through the remnant of what was once a booming industrial town. Now reduced to a few scattered run down homes sitting among the ruins.
Hank stops to ask a local directions.