AtlasShrugged/SectioN131

Atlas Shrugged, Part 1, Chapter 3, section 1:

• Plot summary

James Taggart, /OrrenBoyle, /PaulLarkin, and /WesleyMouch meet to work out a deal by which they can stop Hank Rearden and the success of /ReardenMetal. Boyle wants Taggart to get his friends in /Washington to regulate the distribution of iron ore, depriving Rearden of the raw materials needed to market Rearden Metal. In exchange, Boyle agrees to get the /NationalAllianceofRailroads to drive the /PhoenixDurango railroad out of business. None of this is said openly or directly, of course. Taggart also learns from Boyle that /TaggartTranscontinental's /SanSebastianLine has been denuded of all but the barest equipment.

---

• Setting

The most expensive barroom in New York, on the 60th floor of a skyscraper, designed to look like a cellar.

---

• Characters

 /BartendeR: First and only appearance.
 James Taggart
 /OrrenBoyle
 /PaulLarkin
 /WaiteR: First and only appearance.
 /WesleyMouch

---

• Pregnant Passages

"It all depends," James Taggart answered slowly, "on the people who make it possible...That's what has to be known - who makes it possible."