, 1891-02-25

COLnG E0C prophet Ok VI o. oLLHu1A OVo SAOSSAS
in Church Street, and had fairly embarked on
a career that has since astoniShed the world.
Now after sixty years of such toiEand accom-
plishment as few men are capable Of, he Is
possessed of many millions of dollars-no one
brt himself car tell or even closely estlnate'
how maryland has won the distinction of
having defed and fairly outliyed the great
monopoly called the Sugar Trust.
Claus SpreckeIs has by his own choice
kept his personality away from the public
notice, while he has at the same time conduct
ed s~tupendous business operations that seem
beyond the power of q single man to carry
out. For q score OF years after his modest
beginning he made no noteworthy success. 1t
is true that he was known among his assocl-
ates as a keen BUSINESS man, With abilities
fully equal to such strain as was put upon
them, but no one would have dreamed Of has
future fifty years ago. Probably he. least OF
any would have predicted such success as he
has attained.
There was that in him, however, which led
him to seek for the largest opportunity, and :.
as Hanover had seemed an inadequate field
to him when the New World was open, SO
New York seemed too narrow when the dis
covery of gold in California drew the tide OF
immigration thither. Pauslng only long
enough to dispose Of his business to good ad-
vantage, he went with the tide, not as a pros
pector or miner, but as a trader. The uncer-
tainties of gold hunting had no attraction for
him. He was contented to accumulate, and'
for years after his arrival on the Pacific coast
he continued in trade as a grocer, maintaining
the reputation he had established, but making
no brilliant strokes, and achieving no special
prominence.
At length, after q quarter of q century OF q
fairly prosperous business career, he found
himself in that position where an ordinary
man would feel justified in quitting business
and settling down to enjoy a hard-earned
competency for such a space Of life as might
be remaining for him. Mr.. Spreckels did not
retire and settle down. He had merely been
gathering capital for the real work Of his life,
and he began it. 1t was the era of rapid re,
turns for sound investments. and the first
one he made outside OF the grocery business
proved enormously profitable. His brothers
had followed him to California, and combln-
ing with them he purchased for $4,000, an
interest in the Albany Brewery in San Fran
cisco. It is not recorded-at least the public
is not informed-how large his personal in
vestment was, nor what his prodts were, but
it is certain that they were very large Profit
able as it proved, however, brewing was no
field for him, and be was soon looking for a
wider one.
He was already known as a Spectator in
sugar; and studying the trade carefully, he
discovered that it was dependent on q supply
too far distant, andupon conditions of transport
tation that made sugar inordinately costly on
the Pacific coast. Once more he looked west
ward. and far out en- the western ocean he
found his golden opportunity. An earthly para
disc in mid-ocean, peopled by a race of gentle
sayages, where natures Lounty supplied ell
needs, and where primitive conditions obtained,
was to him a gold mine richer than any in
California. Sugar could be raised there more
cbeaply than in the United States, even with
slave labour, and could be brought to the
Pacific slope more cheaply than from the
Eugar-producing States.
To see was to act, and as a very pioneer
Claus Speckels went to Hawaii to Geyelope-
not the country, butah business. The record
of that period in Hawaiian history will prob.
ably never be written.
The native people, gentler than the North
American Indians, welcomed the strangers of
q stronger race who came to tbem,r and have
suffered in consequence. With q kingly gov.
eminent. they had no monarch strong enough
to Withstand the influences that were brought
to bear on him, and the foreign element speed
lily became the dominant power sG
Mr.. Spreckels had one thing in view. 1t
is probably impossible to say just now how ne
procured the, control Of the entire output OF
7sugar from the Sandwich Islands. That is q