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== Henry Rearden's disappearance ==

== Henry Rearden's disappearance ==

In October of 1957, Mouch and his various Washington friends and associates prepared to promulgate a Steel Unification Plan, along the lines of the Railroad Unification Plan. Mouch knew from previous experience that Henry Rearden, who stood to lose the most from this Plan, would resist. Which Washington official arranged with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] to place liens on Rearden's personal and company assets to satisfy a [[tax]] obligation that actually did not exist, the novel never names. But Mouch, Taggart, Tinky Holloway, [[Floyd Ferris]], and Eugene Lawson invited Rearden to meet them at the Wayne-Falkland Hotel in [[New York City]] (in the very suite once rented by [[Francisco d'Anconia]]) on the pretext of helping "straighten out" the tax liens.

In October of 1957, Mouch and his various Washington friends and associates prepared to promulgate a Steel Unification Plan, along the lines of the Railroad Unification Plan. Mouch knew from previous experience that Henry Rearden, who stood to lose the most from this Plan, would resist. Therefore Mouch and his friends prepared an elaborate plan to make Rearden believe that his mills were about to erupt in labor violence.

But another part of the plan was to start a workers' uprising at Rearden Steel, to convince Rearden that he needed to embrace the Plan in order to have protection from possible violence. To that end, someone, with the full blessing of the Unification Board, arranged to have several men apply for jobs at Rearden Steel who were not experienced steelworkers and whose skills were better suited to rough-housing than to steelmaking. On the appointed day of the meeting with Rearden, a Unification Board official asked the Deputy Director of Distribution to sign several passes to admit a last-minute contingent of workers (actually labor agitators) to the plant. Much to everyone's surprise, the DDD refused to sign the passes; Mouch no doubt later learned that the DDD was shot for his trouble and ended up dead.

On October 20, the new union representing Rearden Steel's workforce petitioned the Unification Board for a raise in salary. On October 23, the Board, on orders from Fred Kinnan, refused. Then came the editorials saying that Rearden's workers were downtrodden, and that violence could break out at any moment.

Henry Rearden did attend the meeting (held on November 5), and spent most of it disputing Mouch and the others as to the wisdom and practicality of their economic policies. The assembled men described the plan to Rearden, and Rearden told them flatly that their numbers didn't add up. Then he asked, in a manner that was not ''quite'' sarcastic, what his hosts thought could save them.

Which Washington official arranged with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] to place liens on Rearden's personal and company assets to satisfy a [[tax]] obligation that actually did not exist, the novel never names. The lien went into effect on October 31. On November 1, Tinky Holloway, at Mouch's orders, invited Rearden to meet with Mouch, Taggart, Holloway, [[Floyd Ferris]], and Eugene Lawson at the Wayne-Falkland Hotel in [[New York City]] (in the very suite once rented by [[Francisco d'Anconia]]) on the pretext of helping "straighten out" the tax liens.

 

But another part of the plan was to start a workers' uprising at Rearden Steel. To that end, someone, with the full blessing of the Unification Board, arranged to have several men apply for jobs at Rearden Steel who were not experienced steelworkers and whose skills were better suited to rough-housing than to steelmaking. On the appointed day of the meeting with Rearden (November 4), a Unification Board official asked the Deputy Director of Distribution to sign several passes to admit a last-minute contingent of workers (actually labor agitators) to the plant. Much to everyone's surprise, the DDD refused to sign the passes; Mouch no doubt later learned that the DDD was shot for his trouble and ended up dead.

 

Henry Rearden did attend the meeting. For about fifteen minutes he disputed Mouch and the others as to the wisdom and practicality of their economic policies. The assembled men described the Steel Unification Plan to Rearden, and Rearden told them flatly that their numbers didn't add up. Then he asked, in a manner that was not ''quite'' sarcastic, what his hosts thought could save them.

That was when Jim Taggart made a major blunder. He said, "Oh, you'll do something." The minute Taggart said that, Mouch knew that that had been the wrong place, the wrong time, and the wrong mode of expression. The look on Henry Rearden's face said it all, and when Rearden abruptly turned to leave, Mouch knew that all the efforts to stop him from returning to his mills at that moment would be in vain.

That was when Jim Taggart made a major blunder. He said, "Oh, you'll do something." The minute Taggart said that, Mouch knew that that had been the wrong place, the wrong time, and the wrong mode of expression. The look on Henry Rearden's face said it all, and when Rearden abruptly turned to leave, Mouch knew that all the efforts to stop him from returning to his mills at that moment would be in vain.

The end result was almost an anticlimax. Henry Rearden vanished from society, leaving behind his mills, his home, his New York apartment, his bank accounts, and indeed everything listed in his name. Furthermore, word of his vanishing reached the mills, and before Mouch or anyone else could stop it, many more workers quit and vanished, including the mills superintendent, the chief metallurgist, the chief engineer, the furnace foreman, Mr. Rearden's personal secretary, and even the [[doctor]] at the mill infirmary.

The end result was almost an anticlimax. Henry Rearden vanished from society, leaving behind his mills, his home, his New York apartment, his bank accounts, and indeed everything listed in his name. Furthermore, word of his vanishing reached the mills, and before Mouch or anyone else could stop it, many more workers quit and vanished, including the mills superintendent, the chief metallurgist, the chief engineer, the furnace foreman, Mr. Rearden's personal secretary, and even the [[doctor]] at the mill infirmary.

Mouch would send two men to run Rearden Steel for the government, and both appointments proved disastrous. The first man, recommended by Orren Boyle, was obviously in over his head and begged for a transfer within a week. The second man, one of Cuffy Meigs' cronies, literally sold off all the equipment and pocketed the proceeds.

Mouch would send two men to run Rearden Steel for the government, and both appointments proved disastrous. The first man, recommended by Orren Boyle, was obviously in over his head and begged for a transfer within a month. The second man, one of Cuffy Meigs' cronies, literally sold off all the equipment and pocketed the proceeds. After that, conditions continued to deteriorate, until finally, on January 22, 1958, a sixty-year-old worker whose name went unrecorded started a fire that made the mills inoperable. Upon his arrest, this worker said that he had acted "to avenge Hank Rearden."

== The unraveling ==

== The unraveling ==