Chapter 4 - The Immovable Movers

Dagny remembers a recent visit to United Locomotive Works. She went to get answers regarding the consistent lateness of Taggart's locomotive orders, but all she gets are excuses. While she's at the factory, she sees an expensive machine tool rusting in a corner. The tool didn't break, they just didn't use it enough, it rusted up, and they couldn't be bothered to clean it.

Dagny returns to the office, and Eddie tells her that their rail contractor, Dick McNamara, has suddenly closed shopped and canceled all his contracts. No reason was given. Even though she knows it will be almost impossible to replace McNamara, Dagny puts on a brave front for Eddie.

Dagny heads home to her penthouse apartment. She puts on Halley's Fourth to distract her from her worries, but then she notices the front page of the paper. Francisco d'Anconia is in New York. A married socialite recently tried to kill her husband. She told the police she had been having an affair with d'Anconia, and she shot her husband to be free from him. Now d'Anconia is in town, but he refuses to comment on the matter.

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James wakes up drunk in his apartment. We meet his lady friend, Betty Pope. She's an unattractive socialite. They don't actually like each other all that much, but they're in the same social stratus and people are "supposed to be" in relationships, so they're together. James talks about the day's Board Meeting, where he plans to sink Dagny for pulling all the good resources off of the San Sebastian Line. Then he gets a call and learns that the San Sebastian has been nationalized by the Mexican government. It seems like someone predicted that...

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James addresses the Board. He tells them the San Sebastian situation is no big deal, because he saw it coming and pulled everything with value out of Mexico. He also tells them that he'll get compensation for what was taken through his Washington contacts. Two board members who signed off on the original deal are marked as scapegoats, and the matter is closed.

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Orren comes to James' office, and they decide that d'Anconia must have some angle that will save his investments from the Mexican debacle. James tries to get a meeting with d'Anconia, but Francisco refuses because James is "boring".

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The National Alliance of Railroads votes to institute the Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule, which will eliminate "destructive competition". The Alliance can designate "no-compete" zones. If two railroads are already operating in a zone, then the one with seniority gets to stay. The other have nine months to vacate the zone. The rule means that the Phoenix-Durango Line must yield to Taggart in nine months. Orren Boyle was the driving force, and now it will be James' turn to pay him back. James goes straight to Dagny's office after the vote to gloat about the destruction of Dan Conway and his company.

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Dagny goes to visit Dan Conway and tries to convince him to fight the Alliance's ruling. Conway has resigned himself to his fate. He'll just focus his efforts on a less prosperous state like Arizona, and he may even try to take up fishing. While he doesn't agree with the ruling, he tells Dagny he joined the Alliance of his own volition. When he joined, he was agreeing to follow the rule of the majority, and the majority has sacrificed him. Dagny can't understand or accept Conway's stance.

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Ellis Wyatt, the Colorado oilman, barges into Dagny's office. He's angry about the Alliance's decision, and tells demands sufficient rail service from Taggart when the Phoenix-Durango Line shuts down. If Taggart ruins Wyatt, he'll do his best to ruin them in the process. Wyatt clearly expects to hear excuses from Dagny, but instead she promises to give him everything he has asked for. Taggart will meet, and even exceed, the service he currently gets from Dan Conway.

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Dagny visits Hank Rearden to tell him she will now need her new rail in nine months, instead of twelve. He tells her she'll get them, but he's going to make her pay for it. Dagny says she wouldn't expect anything less. They come to a realization that they are completely different from the other people they deal with. They think the goal of a business should be to make a profit, and the business owner should never be embarrassed of that fact. Better, or faster, work should always demand higher prices. Rearden says "We are the movers", and thus the chapter's title refers to Hank and Dagny. They move the economy, but they refuse to be moved by the opinions and morals of others.