Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 Chapter 10: Wyatt's Torch

Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago to Books
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Summary: Dagny and Rearden investigated the 20th Century Motor Company. Mark Yonts with The People’s Mortgage Company of Rome, Wisconsin sold it to more than one buyer. Yonts bought it from Mayor Bascom of Rome. Mayor Bascom bought it in a bankruptcy sale from Eugene Lawson of the Community National Bank of Madison. Upon learning this, they were called back to work because the railroad Unions were demanding limits on the size and speed of cars, the politician looters were pushing for the Preservation of Livelihood Law, Fair Share Law, and the Public Stability Law. Dagny confronted James, who had no answer. Larkin failed to deliver ore to Rearden, which he needed. Lillian came in to discuss Hank’s self-sacrifice. Lawson said the 20th Century Motor Company was run by Lee Hunsacker of Amalgamated Service, in Grangeville, Oregon. Hunsacker took it over after “the heirs of Jed Starnes had run it into the ground,” but he failed because he could not get a loan from Midas Mulligan. She found the Starnes heirs, who led them to Mrs. William Hastins, who pointed them to Mr. Hastings’ young assistant John Galt (age 26 when he left the company) at the Akston Diner. Dagny conversed with Hugh Akston, who challenged her thinking, but refused to give direct help. Then Dagny learned that Mouch had passed the Directives described above, and then saw that Ellis Wyatt had quit.

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Atlas Shrugged was written by Ayn Rand in 1957.

My idea for this post is discussed here:

http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts...

All Comments

  • Posted by VetteGuy 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I've seen this as well. I once wrote in a Program Document that the purpose was to have a "Premier Program" and establish our company as the industry leader. In a subsequent revision it got changed (over my objection) to state that we would have an "effective" program. By the time I left, we could not even get the budget to manage "effective".
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 9 years, 9 months ago
    How could this not be the winner of Chapter 10 of Book 1 of AS?

    I am leaving it as I found it. Take over. It's yours. - Ellis Wyatt
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  • Posted by Animal 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It is precisely the mark of a person who is fundamentally irrational that they do get angry at people who speak the truth.
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    This is nothing new. Politicians are fallible, corruptible. When you have the power, I can only imagine it is easy to use force to your own benefit (instead of merely protecting individual rights). I see the history of Government as an argument for limited government. Limited in size, limited with enforceable checks and balances, and limited in function.
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    This is a sign on the tension in the Code of Death. A truly virtuous life, living well, ought to lead to true joy, true happiness. It is the Code of Death that has the conflict of being happy or being good (like being productive or being virtuous).
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I know this feeling. I've left jobs a couple of times upon learning that my employers did not want to improve, much less excel. It reminds me the movie "Hot Fuzz":

    Met Sergeant: You can't be the Sheriff of London.
    Chief Inspector: If we let you carry on running around town, you'll continue to be exceptional... and we can't have that. You'll put us all out of a job.
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    When you understand that money is a measure of value, a sign of good virtues (i.e., ability to produce), like d'Anconia soon explains, then Dagny's attitude makes perfect sense. Lawson is bragging that he has always consumed more than he has produced, and he is proud of it.
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Soon, Rearden will come to the exact same realization. He won't believe it possible of Lillian. Then it will hit him like a ton of Rearden Metal.
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes. Discrimination. I've noticed that many of my friends use that term in a negative way, hoping to give it the baggage of discrimination based on race. But in this case it was performance based discrimination. Hunsacker had proved that he was unable to produce more than he consumed.
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It is presented as a lofty ideal. Altruism, selflessness, it sounds so virtuous, only having failed because people were not good enough. But when you understand that it is based on rewarding people who don't work and penalizing people who are productive, it is easier to see that it is an inverted morality. I would say I was an altruist before reading Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand did a masterful job showing the practice and logical conclusions of that mindset. Now I call altruism evil.
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  • Posted by VetteGuy 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    If I remember correctly, this is addressed later in the book. Some of the "Gulchers" have to work outside the gulch, but only in relatively menial jobs, so that the looters do not get the benefit of their true worth - the fruit of their minds. John Galt's job in the Taggart terminal is similar.
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago in reply to this comment.
    At first glance, it seems like he is against "making money." d'Anconia considered this, "to make money," to be a great virtue. I also note that he is making money; just enough to meet his goals. This apparent lack of ambition makes sense when you consider how little the Gulchers value America's fiat money. What hurts him most is to see everyone else wasting their efforts on this broken and corrupt system.
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago
    Hugh Akston to Dagny: “There is only one helpful suggestion that I can give you: By the essence and nature of existence, contradictions cannot exist. If you find it inconceivable that an invention of genius should be abandoned among ruins, and that a philosopher should wish to work as a cook in a diner – check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago
    Dagny and Hugh Akston: “But…but what are you doing here?” Her arm swept at the room. “This doesn’t make sense!”
    “Are you sure?”
    “What is it? A stunt? An experiment? A secret mission? Are you studying something for some special purpose?”
    “No, Miss Taggart. I’m earning my living.” The words and the voice had the genuine simplicity of truth.
    “Dr. Akston, I… it’s inconceivable, it’s… You’re… you’re a philosopher… the greatest philosopher living… an immortal name… why would you do this?”
    “Because I am a philosopher, Miss Taggart.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago
    Dagny and Hugh Akston: “Why should you work like this, when you can have a better job?”
    “I am not looking for a better job.”
    “You don’t want a chance to rise and make money?”
    “No. Why do you insist?”
    “Because I hate to see ability being wasted!”
    He said slowly, intently, “So do I.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago
    Ivy Starnes to Dagny: “Our plan? We put into practice that noble historical precept: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Everybody in the factory, from charwomen to president, received the same salary – the barest minimum necessary… Rewards were based on need, and the penalties on ability… That was our plan. It was based on the principle of selflessness.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago
    “Midas Mulligan was a vicious bastard with a dollar sign stamped on his heart,” said Lee Hunsacker, in the fumes of the acrid stew. “My whole future depended upon a miserable half-million dollars, which was just small change to him, but when I applied for a loan, he turned me down flat – for no better than that I had no collateral to offer. How could I have accumulated any collateral, when nobody had ever given me a chance at anything big? Why did he lend money to others, but not to me? It was plain discrimination.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago
    “Why yes, I can,” said Midas Mulligan, when he was asked whether he could name a person more evil than the man with a heart closed to pity. “The man who uses another’s pity for him as a weapon.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago
    Eugene Lawson to Dagny: “I am perfectly innocent, since I lost my money, since I lost all of my own money for a good cause. My motives were pure. I wanted nothing for myself. I’ve never sought anything for myself. Miss Taggart, I can proudly say that in all of my life I have never made a profit!”
    Her voice was quiet, steady and solemn: “Mr. Lawson, I think I should let you know that of all the statements a man can make, that is the one I consider most despicable.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago
    Eugene Lawson to Dagny: “If people needed money, that was enough for me. Need was my standard, Miss Taggart. Need not greed.”
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  • Posted by nsnelson 9 years, 9 months ago
    Lillian Rearden to Hank: “I have no mortgage on you, no collateral, no guns, no chains. I have no hold on you at all, Henry – nothing but your honor.”
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