Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-08-12
81 lIclaCaNG 5CGAK GaME IN CUBAl

Deen said that searles planned the
trust and that Parsons drew the char
ter. Certainly both were generally
played more heavily in the antitrust
newspaper special heads" than any
of the Eaver2eyers. Parsons being the
trusts general counsel and Searles
secretary.
Sprecke!s a Fighter.
Two of the nveliest chapters in the
history OF the sugar trust are suggest
ed b. the names OF Claus Sprecke i
ard John ArbuckIe. The Sprec!l is
char pier was begun in 1S+S, when
Sp-eckels was nineteen II that year
he landed at Charleston. s. c. with 50
in his pocket, having fed from Han
over. Germany. TO avoid joining the
army.
He went 10 California in lS49. not TO
dig gold. but to make money in bust
ness if he could
His first venture was an up 10 date
grocery; then he ran a brewery fO-
awhile. and then, when he had made
$4,000 started out TO play a sugar
gam@ of his own. There were as yet
no transccntinental railroads. and thus
the Pacific coast was shut off from an
10 be had cheaply from the islands of
the Pacific II he could get control of
the Pacific coast sugar business there
would be practically no limit to the
size OF his game or the fortune he could
amass.
Tho trust people had been watching
his exceedingly profitable career in
sugar on the Pacific coast. and it hurt
their feelings. So they made a propo-
sition to him to come in. CURLY, he
said. and told him he could take II or
leave it If the latter. he could look out
for war. and that was all there was
about IL.
SpreckeIs considered this an often
sive bluff and profanely told them 20
do their worst" Then putting GER
titled check for some hundreds of
thousands into his inside pocket he
boarded a train for Philadelphia.
Arriving he began TO make the fur
fly All told he had invested 100000
in the enterprise when he started up,
The trust stood his competition.
which was ruinous till 1892. when the
trouble was fixed" Only those on
the inside know Just how, but the gem
orally accepted story is that the trust
people gave him 100000 for his
property. divided the country with him
as 10 sugar sales and abandoned their
coast
the victory to him.
Arbuekle Lost but Won.
Then came the John Arbuckle fight.
Among his many inventions in his
great coffee business. practically a
trust in itself. was a machine for fll-
ing. weighing and sealing up and la
beIinE paper packages of ground cof-
fee This machine is q remarkable
Continuance. II made II possible for
the Arbuckie brothers 10 lay of 500
girls and increase their profits enor-
mously II bothered John ArbuclSie TO
think that he had no use for the ma
chine except 20 put UP coffee with IT
One day II occurred either 10 him or to
machine would pack sugar as well as
coffee. So the sale OF sugar in pack
ages as well as coffee was added to the
ArbuckIe brothers business
II was a good move. II made the
Arbuckle millions increase faster than
ever. The sugar was bought from the
Havemeyers and the Arbuckle broth
ers believed that their custom was
valued by the trust One day John
ArbuckIe noticed that. though the price
OF raw sugar was down. there was no
drop IN refined TO him He went to
H o. Haveneyer personally and re-
monstrated. but got no satisfaction
He then told Havemeyer that he
would start q refinery OF his own
This meant war. The trust declared
itself ready 20 20 20 roasting and
grinding coffee. That didn't scare Ar
buckle a little bit He hired an ex-
pert away from the trust and went
ahead and built q sugar refinery. The
sugar trcst got control OF the Wooison
spice mills Of Toledo. with their estab-
Eshec brand OF coffee. 10 use in hgat-
Ing Areuckle. u took some time for