Changes

== Lee Hunsacker ==

== Lee Hunsacker ==

Lee Hunsacker, another businessman who had never been successful at anything before, bought the Twentieth Century after securing a capital loan from the nearby Community National Bank, presided over by Eugene Lawson. (He had earlier tried to get a loan from [[Midas Mulligan]], but, though he had obtained a court injunction to compel Mulligan to lend him the money, Mulligan had responded by liquidating his bank and vanishing.) Hunsacker spent most of his remaining money buying luxurious appointments for his executive offices. After that, one fact became painfully obvious to everyone: he didn't know what to do. His attempt to make the factory into a going enterprise once again ended in abject failure.

Lee Hunsacker, another businessman who had never been successful at anything before, assembled a team of equally feckless partners who called themselves the Amalgamated Service Company. They bought the Twentieth Century after securing a capital loan from the nearby Community National Bank, presided over by Eugene Lawson. (He had earlier tried to get a loan from [[Midas Mulligan]], but, though he had obtained a court injunction to compel Mulligan to lend him the money, Mulligan had responded by liquidating his bank and vanishing.) Hunsacker spent most of his remaining money buying luxurious appointments for his executive offices. After that, one fact became painfully obvious to everyone: he didn't know what to do. When Nielsen Motors ([[Colorado]]) came out with a motor, similar to the Twentieth Century's signature product, but at half the price, the Twentieth Century folded.

That failure had an even larger consequence, because the Community National Bank failed completely, and many residents of Starnesville and the nearby town of Rome, Wisconsin, lost all their money.

That failure had an even larger consequence, because the Community National Bank failed completely, and many residents of Starnesville and the nearby town of Rome, Wisconsin, lost all their money.

== Final dispositions ==

== Final dispositions ==

The Mayor of Rome, a man named Bascom, bought the Twentieth Century property and sold off its fixtures. The factory, basically an empty shell, was still standing when [[Dagny Taggart]] and [[Henry Rearden]] visited Starnesville on a driving trip. There Dagny discovered John Galt's original prototype, or rather what was left of it; John Galt had wrecked it so that neither the Starnes heirs nor anyone else would have use of his invention.

The Mayor of Rome, a man named Bascom, bought the Twentieth Century property, appropriated a mahogany desk and stall shower for himself, and sold off its fixtures. (Bascom assumed incorrectly that Jed Starnes had had these appointments in his office; Hunsacker had actually bought them.) Bascom then sold the factory, now an empty shell, to Mark Yonts. He, in turned, re-sold it—twice—and vanished before anyone suspected the double sale.

Eric Starnes became infatuated with a young woman who did not return his feelings, and then committed suicide by slashing his own throat on her doorstep.

 

Eric Starnes became infatuated with a young woman who did not return his feelings, and then committed suicide by slashing his own throat in the bedroom of her house, on the occasion of her returning, with her new husband, from their honeymoon.

Gerald Starnes drifted into a life of petty, and then grand, theft and landed in [[jail]].

Gerald Starnes drifted into a life of petty, and then grand, theft and landed in [[jail]].

Eugene Lawson won a key appointment in the administration of [[Mr. Thompson]].

Eugene Lawson won a key appointment in the administration of [[Mr. Thompson]].

William Hastings retired after at least a year under the administration of the Starnes children. He lived for a few years on his savings and died peacefully at home.

William Hastings left the Twentieth Century almost as quickly as John Galt did, when the Starnes children were in charge. He went to work for another factory, but John Galt would later convince him to retire and live off his savings. He lived on for a few years and died peacefully at home, of heart disease.

John Galt, of course, made good on his threat to "stop the motor of the world."

John Galt, of course, made good on his threat to "stop the motor of the world." William Hastings was his fourth recruit.

Shop foreman [[Jeff Allen]] left Starnesville after the initial [[bankruptcy]] and drifted across the country, looking for work where he could find it. Usually his jobs would not survive the next round of layoffs, which always proceeded according to [[seniority]], a thing he could not hope to gain. Allen worked the longest for Lawrence Hammond's automobile factory in [[Colorado]], where all hiring decisions were taken according to a man's work record—but then Lawrence Hammond quit, and the citizens' committee that took the Hammond Car Company over, laid him off at once, again on account of his lack of seniority. He met [[Dagny Taggart]] while stowing away on the Taggart Comet, and told her the full particulars of the disastrous administration of the Twentieth Century by the Starnes heirs, and the origin of the [[John Galt]] Question. The novel last mentions him taking command of the Comet as "deputy conductor and proxy-vice-president for operations" when the Comet became a "frozen train."

Shop foreman [[Jeff Allen]] left Starnesville after the initial [[bankruptcy]] and drifted across the country, looking for work where he could find it. Usually his jobs would not survive the next round of layoffs, which always proceeded according to [[seniority]], a thing he could not hope to gain. Allen worked the longest for Lawrence Hammond's automobile factory in [[Colorado]], where all hiring decisions were taken according to a man's work record—but then Lawrence Hammond quit, and the citizens' committee that took the Hammond Car Company over, laid him off at once, again on account of his lack of seniority. He met [[Dagny Taggart]] while stowing away on the Taggart Comet, and told her the full particulars of the disastrous administration of the Twentieth Century by the Starnes heirs, and the origin of the [[John Galt]] Question. The novel last mentions him taking command of the Comet as "deputy conductor and proxy-vice-president for operations" when the Comet became a "frozen train."