The Goulds represent the combination of materialism and altruism that keeps progress going, and the chief is on the side of progress. But the chief also has a subtly amoral streak to him, as we have seen, and Mitchell's phrase unwittingly hints that he cared as little for the Goulds as for anything else. One is tempted to think that he consented to the engine run simply because it was another instance of sending someone away from Sulaco!