Atlas Shrugged Part I, Chapter 7: The Exploiters and the Exploited (Part 2) - The State Science Institute Strikes
If Part 1 of this chapter showed the system tightening its grip, Part 2 is where the system goes for the kill. And the weapon it uses is not a law, not a regulation, but something much more effective: a carefully worded statement from the State Science Institute that says nothing and destroys everything.
The State Science Institute Tries to Buy Rearden
A man from the State Science Institute comes to visit Hank Rearden at his office. He never directly says what he wants. He talks about “social impact” and “the public welfare” and “the alarming growth of unemployment.” Rearden keeps cutting through the fog with one question: “Is Rearden Metal good?”
The man will not answer. He dances around it for what feels like an eternity. At one point he says something incredible: “If Rearden Metal is not good, it’s a physical danger to the public. If it is good, it’s a social danger.”
Read that again. If the product works, that’s the problem.
Growing up in a post-Soviet country, I heard variations of this logic all my life. If you succeed too much, you become a threat. Not because your product is bad, but because your success embarrasses everyone who failed. The language changes, the mechanism is always the same.
Then the man drops the real purpose of the visit. He asks Rearden how much he spent developing the metal. One and a half million dollars. And then: “How much will you take for it?” The State Science Institute wants to buy the rights to Rearden Metal. With government money. Any price Rearden names.
Rearden’s response is perfect: “Because it’s mine. Do you understand the word?”
The man leaves, but not before making veiled threats about pending legislation and how “this is not the day for people who refuse to co-operate.” Rearden doesn’t flinch. The whole scene ends with Rearden explaining why he won’t sell: “It’s because Rearden Metal is good.”
Simple as that. Good is good. And no amount of political pressure changes that fact.
The Hit Piece Drops
Things move fast after that. The State Science Institute publishes a statement about Rearden Metal. And here’s the genius of it: the statement says absolutely nothing definitive. Eddie Willers explains it to Dagny when she returns to the office: “They haven’t said that Rearden Metal is bad. They haven’t said that it’s unsafe. What they’ve done is…”
What they’ve done is fill a document with phrases like “it may be possible that a sudden fissure may appear” and “the possibility of a molecular reaction cannot be entirely discounted” and “certain questions are not to be ruled out.” Every sentence is hedged. Every claim is qualified into meaninglessness. But the headline effect is devastating.
I’ve seen this technique used in academic politics and in corporate PR. You don’t have to prove something is dangerous. You just have to “raise questions.” You use language that sounds scientific but commits to nothing. And because most people don’t read past the headline, the damage is done.
The fallout is immediate. Taggart stock crashes. The contractor working on the Rio Norte Line quits. The union forbids its workers from working on the line. And Jim Taggart runs away to hide at the family estate on the Hudson.
Dagny Confronts Dr. Stadler
Dagny goes to the State Science Institute to meet Dr. Robert Stadler himself. And this scene is one of the most frustrating in the entire book.
Stadler is clearly brilliant. He’s charming, he’s genuinely intelligent, and when Dagny shows him the statement, he tosses it aside with contempt. “Disgusting, isn’t it?” he says. He even admits he knows Rearden Metal is remarkable. He calls it “quite a brilliant achievement.”
But he won’t say any of that publicly.
Dagny presses him. She tells him the existence of her railroad and the economy of an entire region depends on this. He shrugs. She asks him to state the truth because it is true. He says he “cannot become involved in so-called practical matters.”
Then he reveals the real reason behind the statement. The Institute spent twenty million dollars on metallurgical research over thirteen years and produced nothing but a new silver polish. If Rearden, a private individual, comes out with a metal that revolutionizes the field, it makes the entire Institute look like a waste of taxpayer money. So the Institute had to discredit Rearden Metal to protect itself.
Stadler knows this. He admits it openly. And he still won’t do anything about it.
He gives Dagny a speech about how “men are not open to truth or reason” and how the mind is powerless against people. And then he tells her about three brilliant students he once taught at Patrick Henry University. One became Francisco d’Anconia, “a depraved playboy.” Another became Ragnar Danneskjold, “a plain bandit.” The third vanished into mediocrity. So much, Stadler says, for the promise of human intelligence.
This is Rand showing what happens when a great mind surrenders. Stadler chose to work within the system instead of standing on principle, and the system ate him alive. He’s the smartest person in the room and also the most useless.
The Birth of the John Galt Line
Dagny tracks Jim down at the Taggart estate. He’s lying on a couch with a towel around his neck, surrounded by old newspapers and a bottle of whiskey, whining that everything is ruined.
Dagny does not have time for this. She delivers an ultimatum, not a proposal. She will take a leave of absence from Taggart Transcontinental. She will form her own company. She will take over the Rio Norte Line and finish it herself, with her own financing, on her own responsibility. If it works, she transfers it back. If it fails, she goes down alone.
Jim’s first question, amazingly, is “who will run Taggart Transcontinental in the meantime?” He cannot even pretend to care about the railroad he claims to lead.
Then Jim starts negotiating protections for himself. Make sure the failure won’t reflect on us. Make sure she can’t profit from success. Make sure appearances are preserved. The guy is literally negotiating the terms of his own cowardice.
Then comes one of the best moments in the book. Jim asks what she’ll call her new company. She says “the Dagny Taggart Line.” He objects because the Taggart name might be associated with the project. So Dagny, with a cold, bright smile, says: “The John Galt Line.”
“Who is John Galt?” has been a phrase of despair and defeat throughout the book. Every time someone gives up, every time someone hits a wall, that’s what they say. Dagny takes this phrase and turns it into a weapon. She names her company after the thing everyone fears. She throws their own despair back in their faces.
“Draw up all the papers in the name of the John Galt Line,” she tells Jim. And just like that, Dagny goes from corporate vice-president to independent builder, betting everything on a metal nobody will touch and a name that terrifies everyone.
This is what defiance looks like. Not speeches. Not protests. Just someone saying: fine, I’ll do it myself.
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Next: Part I, Chapter 7: The Exploiters and the Exploited (Part 3)
This is part of a chapter-by-chapter retelling of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (35th Anniversary Edition, ISBN: 978-1-101-13719-2). New posts daily.