Note 35 — Chapter III · The San Francisco Ruef Ruled.

Rudolph Spreckels is a native of San Francisco. At seventeen he was employed in his father’s (Claus Spreckels) sugar refinery at Philadelphia. The Spreckels refinery was at the time in a life-and-death struggle with the “Sugar Trust.” Young Spreckels was given his first lessons in the methods employed by the “trust” elements to crush competition. His Philadelphia training in large degree prepared him for the work which later he was to do at San Francisco. At twenty-two he became president of the Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company, owners of one of the largest sugar plantations of the Hawaiian Islands. The venture had been a losing one. Spreckels put it on a paying basis within a year, and sold it at large profit. Before he was twenty-five he had become a millionaire in his own right. He has been engaged in business at San Francisco for many years, but only when moved by corrupt conditions to take up the fight for honest government did he become active in politics. He financed the graft prosecution. He has since taken active part in California politics, but has steadfastly refused to accept public office, preferring to do his work as a private citizen.