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Galt knew that after the
reorganization he would be one of ten men in the boardroom
and that "everything else follows from that." Not only does
he become a member of the Board of Directors he also manages
to get himself elected as its Chairman using his influence
with several men who were indebted to him. The Great
Midwestern Railroad Company thus lives on and progresses
under the new name of the Great Midwestern Railway Company.
In time, Galt would overthrow Valentine thereby also
becoming the company's President.
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Committed to reality and action |
Galt overcame obstacles
by driving ahead with aggressive insensitivity and fanatic
intentness, all the time keeping focused on his goal and
taking practical rational steps in its pursuit. He harshly
dismissed employees who hindered the company and rewarded
employees who advanced it. Carefully calculating his every
action, Galt continually persisted to improve the railroad.
He made huge investments in assets including new tracks,
engines, cars, rails, land, road improvements, and
equipment. He carefully considered the relative merits of
different kinds of equipment, operational problems, the cost
of capital, upkeep, and so on. Galt employed an innovative
profile map identifying bad grades. As a consequence, he
developed better routes by cutting steep grades and by
reducing or eliminating curves. Galt ultimately rebuilds the
railroad from end to end. Through his intelligence, hard
work, and determination, he was able to take a failing
company and revitalize it. One of his key moves was to issue
new securities using the proceeds to invest in the
reconstruction of the Great Midwestern. He later used the
company's profits to buy large interests in other companies.
Through the reinvestment of profits he was able to make his
railroad stronger.
Unlike many other
businessmen, Galt did not begin by asking how his company
can be made to earn a certain rate of profit. Rather, he
asked how the Great Midwestern can be built into the
greatest transportation company in the world. He knew that
if that were done, then the profit would take care of
itself.
Galt was committed to
reality and action and the need to transform ideas into
concrete form. He worked on the premise that once something
happened, it becomes an irreversible fact and that every
other fact in the universe must adjust itself to that one
fact. In other words, a man must use his unique attribute,
reason, to apprehend the natural order by which he is bound.
It was evident that Galt had confidence in his capacity to
deal with the world through the implementation of
appropriate and efficacious ideas and measures.
Galt invested all of
himself, as well as all of his savings, into the Great
Midwestern. He had a tremendous work ethic as evidenced by
his passionate expenditure of time and mental and physical
effort in the unwavering pursuit of his dream of building a
great railroad. Galt had the power to move men's minds,
persuade them, command them, and reward them. He had the
power to imagine what could be, to bring his vision into
reality, and to create wealth. He was seen as an elemental
force. Regarding Galt, the novel's narrator says, "The sight
of inspired craftsmanship is irresistible to men."
After rebuilding the
Great Midwestern, Galt led the company into other ventures
such as buying controlling interests in other railroads as
well as in investment and insurance companies. Two such
companies were the Orient and Pacific Railroad and Security
Life Insurance Company. As a result, he and his family
became rich.
Galt wins, creates his
empire, and makes enemies in the process. He was satiric and
had the power to irritate people. In addition, he had no use
for public opinion or government. He was contemptuous of
politics. Galt knew nothing about society's views and did
not care about them. He had no time for the press and did
not engage in public relations. Galt greatly underestimated
the force of public opinion. As a result, his family faces
social ostracism, Wall Street turns against him, and he is
attacked under the antitrust act that had been enacted as
special interest regulation to protect less-efficient firms.
Galt's family gains some
acceptance and Galt is able to take actions to reverse the
decline in the price of the Great Midwestern's stock. An
alarmed Congress resolves to investigate Galt and his
business dealings and summons him to appear before a
Committee of the House. Of course, as expected by now by the
reader, Galt defends himself magnificently. He tells the
Committee that he is a farmer who farms the country,
fertilizes it with money, sows it with more money, reaps
profits, and sows the profits back again.
Galt was then asked by
the Committee if he, as chairman of the finance committee of
Security Life Insurance Company, recommended that securities
of the Great Midwestern be purchased. He answered yes and
explained that he did not know of a better investment. He
was then asked about the disgruntled minority shareholders
of the Orient and Pacific who were upset with the Great
Midwestern for exercising the power of a majority
shareholder. Galt simply explained that he was willing to
buy them out at any time.
Galt went on to explain
that he built his empire by buying a bankrupt company and
equipment, property, and stock in other companies when they
were selling at low prices. He bought things that nobody
else wanted, saw what others did not see, worked hard,
managed well, and created great wealth. At this point he
announces that in the next year he would be spending
$500,000,000 (an amount equal to half the national debt at
that time) for double tracking, grade reductions, new
equipment, and larger terminals. Galt's testimony turns
public opinion overwhelmingly in his favor.
Galt suffers a stroke and
collapses after his ordeal with the committee. His health
deteriorates and he becomes bed-ridden. Still, his mind was
clear and he continued to build for the future. He even had
his maps and charts drawn on the ceiling so that he could
see them. His dream for a pan-American railroad connecting
the North and South American continents survived him in the
form of an idea. Galt dies a well-respected hero.
It is interesting to note
that the character of Henry M. Galt was modeled on 19th
century railroad czar and turnaround specialist, Edward H.
Harriman (1848-1909). Harriman had bought a seat on the New
York Stock Exchange at age 22. By 1883, he sat on the board
of the Illinois Central and initiated its huge expansion
program. In 1898 he took over and rescued the Union Pacific,
a property in receivership and near collapse, and shortly
thereafter purchased the Southern Pacific and Central
Pacific and saved the Erie. It was Harriman who established
standards for locomotives, cars, bridges, structures,
signals, and so on.
Although The Driver
is flawed by its sketchy characterization and its
bewildering and extraneous subplot involving Galt's family,
it is still to be recommended for the portrait it paints of
a hard working, visionary, passionate, loyal, and competent
businessman and for the sense of the "drive of the age" that
it conveys. It is certainly not in the same class as
Atlas Shrugged but what is? It is a good book and a
quick read and I recommend it to you, if you can find it. It
is a shame that it is not still in print.
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