We learn from Eddie, during his confessional, that Dagny has gone to the Taggart Lodge in Woodstock and Clifton Locey has replaced her. Hank meets Ragnar. Chick Morrison of Washington DC demands the last available diesel engine for his speaking tour on the Directive to raise the morale of the nation. A coal-burning locomotive pulling passenger cars is sent into the Taggart Tunnel at Winston, Colorado.
SUBPLOT (loose ends)
Ragnar blows up the mills Orren Boyle set up in Maine. These mills were going to make Rearden Metal.
Hank started divorce proceedings. One condition is Lillian must not attempt to see him.
Ragnar has been keeping the equivalent of the taxes Hank has paid for the past twelve years in gold in Mulligan’s Bank.
COMMENTS
Justice – This chapter continues the theme explored at the end of the last chapter. “There is no escape from justice…” In this chapter we find “value for value” is the basis of Justice. In the last chapter, Hank states someone has to pay. This chapter establishes Justice demands the right people pay, eventually. Ms. Rand believed in Justice. She believed people can’t end up with more or less than what they have earned; people end up with EXACTLY what they deserve. Some call this “Karma”. The Bible says God is Righteous (right) and Just (fair). Therefore, God can’t do anything or everything; God can only do what is Righteous and Just. Righteous and Justice bind God. Righteous defines God qualitatively, while Justice defines God quantitatively. Justice means in the END, everyone will get exactly what he or she have earned (deserve), no more and no less. This novel attempts to show what it would look like if Justice was completed during our time on earth. (Examples to follow) The key is to realize the big picture; Justice is not limited to our time on earth. The Old Testament people (Solomon, David, Job), didn’t understand the concept of Heaven, that’s why they wrote about injustice on earth…they thought this world was the end. That raises the question whether people want their rewards and/or punishment here or in the end. Later in the novel, we’ll look at other implications of Justice.
Hank – “Now he had to rebuild his life, starting with an empty spirit.” The man with the empty spirit is visited by, what else, his guardian angel. Hank is so drawn to Ragnar he has to overcompensate by threatening to turn Ragnar in. However, when he has the chance, he actually would have used his gun to defend Ragnar’s life. Otherwise Hank is remaining moral by complying with the Law. He only has two goals: never let Dagny learn the reason he signed the Certificate and say, “I love you” to Dagny. Hank is storing up treasure in Mulligan’s Bank where the looters can’t get at it.
Ragnar – The theme of Justice is explored in the exchanges between Ragnar and Hank. Ragnar: "What you need is the justice which it (the gold) represents, and the knowledge that there are men who care for justice." Later, Ragnar: "To the cause of my love." Hank: "Which is what?" Ragnar: "Justice." Ragnar's goal is to help people see what truly ought to be valued: "They might learn to hold, not death and taxes, but life and production as their two absolutes and as the base of their moral code." He also explains how he wants to undo our culture's ultimate example of injustice: Robin Hood. (More explanation to follow.) Ragnar explains Justice is the principle behind which ships and private property he has robbed/destroyed. “Nor have I ever robbed a military vessel – because the purpose of a military fleet is to protect from violence the citizens who paid for it, which is the proper function of government.” Ragnar and CS Lewis agree. Why is Ragnar helping Rearden? “I am investing my time in my own future. I want to see the world reborn as fast as possible.” Ragnar is demonstrating interdependence. “Many of my friends do not approve of the course I’ve chosen.” He is able to remain friends with people who disagree with him. Ragnar seems to be on the positive side of the scale.
Bible – The Old Testament is filled with “value for value” Justice references. God repeatedly rewards and punishes people “according to” and “to the same extent as” what they did. As Ragnar said, “Life and Production or Death and Taxes”? I wonder which pair wins out in the end?
PRACTICAL APPLICATION (worth rereading)
Ragnar’s explanation of Robin Hood is worth rereading. I like to look at it in terms of the “core business” concept. If you ever run a company, you will find it is really made up of several businesses. Your main job is to make sure these businesses work synergistically and do not hinder each other. However, there will be conflicts. When two of your businesses collide in a manner threatening their survival, the one you let win is your “core business”. Your core business should be your most long-term profitable business. Not necessarily in the amount of money it brings in but in the percentage of return on investment over the long term.
For instance, what is McDonald’s core business? Is it hamburgers? Nope. Okay, that was a little narrow. I know, is it food service? Nope, it is real estate. In the 1990's, every year, McDonald’s developed the same area of real estate as the Mall of America. They identified prime locations and leased them. How do they get people to lease them? They show investors (franchisees) a business model on how they can make money on the site. McDonald’s wins twice. They collect guaranteed rent and own the land.
As far as allocating resources for your company, the core business should get the best resources, majority of focus, and win the major conflicts. If you give all of these to the business that isn’t as profitable, you lose twice. Your core business suffers so your company has fewer resources. The lesser business doesn’t give as great a return, so you effectively lose money from where you were the previous year. A company with a lot of money can afford to make these mistakes. THAT is the true benefit of a lot of money, it allows for mistakes by easing cash flow issues. The lesser company will end up “Account Overdrawn”.
The other section worth rereading is the Tunnel Disaster. It is an excellent situation to practice “root cause analysis”. There is a technique in root cause analysis called “5Y” (5 Why’s). That is, when a problem is stated, ask “Why?” five times. If you aren’t at the root, you won’t be far from it. This technique is based on The Law of Causality, that is, “there is a reason (cause) for every occurrence (result)”. It’s not random; it’s Justice. Ultimately, “life is fair”, right down to the passengers. “These passengers were awake; there was not a man aboard the train who did not share one or more of their ideas.” In reality, a lot of things had to go wrong. No one was willing to make a moral decision, there wasn’t a diesel available, etc. Didn’t it start with the rail splitting? Why? It wasn’t replaced with the rail from the Rio Norte Line. Why? Washington wanted it somewhere else. Why?…
While we are on the topic of 5Y, the first thing people will say to you when you use this technique is, “Stop acting like a three year old”. Isn’t THAT interesting? We are innately “built” (programmed?) to search out the root cause. Why don’t we continue in that mentality? Is it because parents and adults get frustrated and tell us to stop? During the Tunnel story, the main leaders keep telling each other to stop thinking. I love it when my kids play 10Y…
Ayn gives a lot of detail to show the Tunnel story is simply Justice evening itself out. "He (Mitchum) did not know that he owed his present job to a deal between James Taggart and Wesley Mouch: when Taggart traded to Mouch the secret of his sister's private life, in exchange for a raise in rates, Mouch made him throw in an extra favor, by their customary rules of bargaining, which consisted of squeezing all one could out of any given trade. The extra was a job for Dave Mitchum, who was the brother-in-law of Claude Slagenhop, who was the president of the Friends of Global Progress, who were regarded by Mouch as a valuable influence on public opinion. James Taggart pushed the responsibility of finding a job for Mitchum onto Clifton Locey. Locey pushed Mitchum into the first job that came up - superintendent of the Colorado Division - when the man holding it quit without notice. The man quit when the extra Diesel engine of Winston Station was given to Chick Morrison's Special." and "Kip Chalmers had been taught that man does not and need not live by reason. Years ago, in college, he had been taught that the only effective means to impel men to action was fear." Joe Scott, the drunk who caused previous accidents ends up driving the Comet because: "He was a friend of Fred Kinnan; he protected Kinnan's interests in his union, not against the employers, but against the membership." Ayn ends the chapter explaining every person on the train deserved what they got through Justice.
The Tunnel Disaster is another controversial chapter in the history of "Atlas Shrugged". Many people feel Ayn was evil for killing innocent people (especially children). The key to realize is everyone on the train had a philosophy. Philosophy wasn't what killed these people. What they needed was the objective limitations of science. The guilty people were the ones who undercut the value of science/technology because without it we perish. Look at these two passages:
"Bill could have beaten him in any contest of technology, but here was an endeavor at which he could beat Bill Brent without effort. There had once been a society where men needed the particular talents of Bill Brent, if they wished to survive; what they needed now was the talent of Dave Mitchum."
The trainmaster made his decision because his younger brother committed suicide after Directive 10-289. Here is the description of his younger brother:
"He had sent him through a technological college, and he had known, as had all the teachers, that the boy had the mark of genius on the forehead of his grim, young face. With the same single tracked devotion as his brother's, the boy had cared for nothing but his studies, not for sports or parties or girls, only for the vision of the things he was going to create as an inventor."
We saw in the last chapter the big error was divorcing the spiritual from the physical. BOTH are important.
The spiritual is the cause and the physical is the effect. Philosophy is the spiritual, however, without the means (science/technology), nothing can be physically created/profitable. Hank's metal required BOTH philosophy and science. People who ONLY focus on philosophy to the exclusion of science deserve EXACTLY what they get...
One more thought on the Tunnel story. It shows how similar large corporations and the government are. Success in both is determined by longevity. Eddie says about Mr. Locey, “You see, his purpose is not to operate a railroad, but to hold a job.” Isn’t a politician’s purpose to get re-elected? It appears the key is to have no focus, no commitment and show no passion. For example, The order from Clifton Locey is focused completely on effects and threats: "Give an engine to Mr. Chalmers at once. Send the Comet through safely and without necessary delay. If you are unable to perform your duties, I shall hold you responsible before the Unification Board. Clifton Locey." Politicians can’t commit too strongly to a position. They always need to have a way out. How do they do this? One of Ayn's tenets is presented blatantly: "Bill Brent knew nothing about epistemology; but he knew that man must live by his own rational perception of reality, that he cannot act against it or escape it or find a substitute for it - and that there is no other way for him to live." Finally, what IS “being presidential”? Isn’t it showing restraint, “maturity” and a lack of emotion? Reagan and Clinton were two great actors who demonstrated “passion”. How? Reagan was stiff. Clinton bit his lip. That’s passion? Their superficial expressions were given greater depth by…whom?
SUPPLEMENT
“I have been asked to tell you what Christians believe, and I am going to begin by telling you one thing that Christians do not need to believe. If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all these religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth. When I was an atheist I had to try to persuade myself that most of the human race have always been wrong about the question that mattered most; when I became a Christian I was able to take a more liberal view.” (CSL-MC)
“There are seven ‘virtues’. Four of them are called ‘Cardinal’ virtues, and the remaining three are called ‘Theological’ virtues. The ‘Cardinal’ virtues are those which all civilised people recognize: the ‘Theological’ are those which, as a rule, only Christians know about. The ‘Cardinal’ virtues are prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude. Justice means much more than the sort of thing that goes on in law courts. It is the old name for everything we should now call ‘fairness’; it includes honesty, give and take, truthfulness, keeping promises, and all that side of life.” (CSL-MC)
“Now, from this second bit of evidence we conclude that the Being behind the universe is intensely interested in right conduct – in fair play, unselfishness, courage, good faith, honesty and truthfulness. In that sense we should agree with the account given by Christianity and some other religions, that God is ‘good’. But do not let us go too fast here. The Moral Law does not give us any grounds for thinking that God is ‘good’ in the sense of being indulgent, or soft, or sympathetic. There is nothing indulgent about the Moral Law. It is as hard as nails. It tells you to do the straight thing and it does not seem to care how painful, or dangerous, or difficult it is to do. If God is like the Moral Law, then He is not soft.” (CSL-MC)
“But store for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Bible)
“The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: That people may know skillful and godly wisdom and instruction, discern and comprehend the words of understanding and insight, receive instruction in wise dealing and the discipline of wise thoughtfulness, righteousness, justice and integrity.” (Opening sentence of Proverbs)
“My son, if sinners entice you, don't consent. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause. They lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain; which takes away the life of the owners of it.” (First Chapter of Proverbs)
Next Chapter: By Our Love
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