I am apparently quite a latecomer to this thread, but I was wondering about this question today and found you guys. I read the first 3 pages of the thread, but have to run soon so I want to post my contribution. Sorry if this has already appeared in the last few pages.
What causes my pause is that when Francisco is speaking to Reardon in chapter 9 about the sorts of people who use his rail, he lists 3. It seems to be of the form 2 good, and 1 evil. Here is what is said about Willers...
"Did you want to see it used by men who could not equal the power of your mind, but who would equal your moral integrity—men such as Eddie Willers—who could never invent your Metal, but who would do their best, work as hard as you did, live by their own effort, and—riding on your rail—give a moment's silent thanks to the man who gave them more than they could give him?"
So, if we assume that Galt's position on Eddie is similar to that of Francisco's, the questions of whether or not Eddie belongs in the valley might be broken down like this. There are two ways with which you should judge people: mental power & moral integrity. Those who have both are in, or belong in, the valley. Those who have neither are left outside to die. There are two middle cases. The case where a man equals the power of a striker's mind but not his moral integrity. Ayn Rand's example of this case is in Robert Stadler. Galt clearly tells us where these men belong.
And now we have dealt with 3 of the 4 possibilities, we are back to Willers. Equal in moral integrity, but lacking in power of the mind. I think the answer to why eddie isn't invited to the valley by Galt (more on why I bolded this later) can be found in Galt's speech to Dagny at Mulligan's house during the dinner.
"I went out to become a flame-spotter. I made it my job to watch for those bright flares in the growing night of savagery, which were the men of ability, the men of the mind - to watch their struggle and their agony - and to pull them out, when I knew they had seen enough."
It stands to reason that Galt feels that Willers was not one of the men of ability, and therefor had no reason to invite him into the valley.
This is not to say that I agree with the outcome. I still think there would have been a way to get Willers into the valley without violating the reasoning above, and it can be found in the fact that Francisco brought some of his best workers and engineers from D'Anconia Copper to the valley with him. Were these men of the mind? If so, why did they not compete against D'Anconia copper in their own business? They must have been brought in because they were superlative workers or managers. I think on these terms, dagny, francisco, or galt could & should have admitted Willers into the valley.
