Atlas Shrugged – Day 030 – pp. 294-303
Chapter X — Wyatt’s Torch
They’re going to find the person who built that motor. Won’t be easy. First they have to find out about the owner of the factory. So they start at the hall of records. . .
“Nobody knows who owns that factory now. I guess nobody will ever know it. . .”
Apparently it was sold not once but twice in a scandal of the day. Today it’s in court.
“Well the last legal owner of the factory was The People’s Mortgage Company, of Rome Wisconsin. . . . That Mortgage Company was a sort of noisy outfit that did a lot of advertising about easy credit.”
Ah??? Easy credit???? Oh Ayn you are a prophetess. . .
Mark Yonts owned Peoples Mortgage. When his company collapsed, he sold 20th Century Motors to a group of investors from South Dakota. And then also put it up as collateral for a loan from a bank in Illinois.
Did he ever run the factory while he owned the place?
“Lord no, ma’am! He wasn’t the kind that ever operates anything. He didn’t want to make money, only to get it.”
The place was stripped by creditors.
Any workers? — They’re all gone too. . .
So who did Mark Yonts buy the factory from? Why Mayor Bascom of Rome WI. . .
Let’s find Mayor Bascom. . .
“Sure it’s me who sold the factory to Mark Yonts. Mark was a nice fellow, a nice, lively, energetic fellow. Sure, he did trim a few corners, but who doesn’t ? Of course, he went a bit too far. That I didn’t expect. I thought he was smart enough to stay within the law — whatever’s left of it nowadays.”
“I didn’t get any rake-off from Mark, he didn’t let me in on any of his deals, I haven’t any idea where he’s gone to now.”
“Why’d you buy that factory?”
Why does anybody buy any business? To squeeze whatever can be squeezed out of it. I know a good chance when I see it. It was a bankruptcy sale and nobody much who’d want to bid on the old mess. So I got the place for peanuts. Didn’t have to hold it long, either — Mark took it off my hands in two-three months.”
What about workers? Nah, it was shut down when the Mayor got there. Never tried to reopen it. He did take Old Jed Starnes mahogany desk though.
Mayor B bought it from a bankruptcy sale during the crash of Community National Bank in Madison.
“It just about finished the whole state of Wisconsin — sure finished this part of it. Some say it was this motor factory that broke the bank, but others say it was only the last drop in a leaking bucket, because Community National had bum investments all over three or four states. Eugene Lawson was the head of it. The banker with a heart they called him.”
Where’s he now?
“Oh him? He’s done alright. He’s got a job in Washington — in the Bureau of Economic Planning and National Resources.”
What to do now? Well, Dagny will call Eddie back in NY and have him send a couple of her engineers (the science kind) to investigate.
But when Eddie answers the phone, there’s an emergency erupting. “I think they’re planning to kill Colorado.”
They’re back to NY. Dagny has secured the remains of the motor in a Taggart vault in the bowels of the terminal.
It appears a little success has driven the competition to Washington to start demanding controls.
“The Union Locomotive Engineers was demanding that the maximum speed of all trains on the John Galt Line be reduced to sixty miles an hour. The Union of Railway Conductors and Brakemen was demanding that the length of all freight trains on the John Galt Line be reduced to sixty cars.
The states otf WY, NM, UT and AZ were demanding the number of trains run in CO not exceed the number of trains run in each of these neighboring states.
A group headed by Orren Boyle was demanding the passage of a Preservation of Livelihood Law. . .
A group headed by Mr. Mowen was demanding the passage of a Fair Share Law…
A group headed by Bertram Scudder was demanding the passage of a Public Stability Law. . .
Wesley Mouch, Top Co-ordinator of the Bureau of Economic Planning and National Resources, was issuing a great many statements, the content and purpose of which could not be defined, except that the words “emergency powers” and “unbalanced economy” kept appearing in the text every few lines.”
(Similar words in play today.)
This was supposed to be Jim’s end of the bargain — keeping Washington out of Dagny’s running the railroad — and he’s failing at it miseraably like everything else.
Trying to justify his failure (impotence?) he offers the point of view of the unions. . . “they feel that it’s not fair for us to get all the benefit of that new rail. They want a share of it too.”
Who want’ s share of it? In payment for what?” He had not answered. “Who’ll bear the cost of two trains doing the work of one?”
(bingo)
Dagny sees the situation as it is developing as a massive threat to Taggart’s — and possibly the world’s — survival. If Jim’s going to fiddle while Colorado (their only significant source of income) burns, she has to focus on finding the man who created that motor. . .
Section break. . .
Meanwhile Hank is back fighting his own battles. He’s being squeezed by the inability of his suppliers (his former companies) to deliver the product he needs.
Paul Larkin of Rearden Ore for example. Unable to deliver because of everything that’s not his fault. . .
Hank is reduced to scraping what ore he can from remnanats all around the country.
He doesn’t have the ability ot battle them in Washington, so this is his only recourse.
Do you ever wonder if the highly educated folks in power right now ever read these visionary classics? and if they did, could they not see parallels? Did they not believe it would go down that way in real life? Do they not care? Maybe Washington is nothing but evil, that those who start out with good intentions are pressured and threatened, and that everyone there is, in the end, concerned about nothing but his or her own power. Or their and their family’s safety (remembering the Clinton years and the “perfect murder” on the White House lawn….)