Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/288



said Crockett, and he turned on his heel and walked off.

Claus Spreckels was amazed, and angry. “I’ll make you regret this!” he said, and in twenty-four hours he had organized the Independent Gas and Electric Company. Rudolph Spreckels knew that a fight with Claus Spreckels meant economy and able management for the old company. Gas was $1.25, and the Independent proposed to sell it at 75 cents. When Rudolph saw his stock drop from 85U0 60, he came to town to attend to his duties as a stockholder and—to learn what graft is in business; and what politics is in business; and what the relation of said business corruption is to political corruption.

Rudolph Spreckels made some swift, super- ficial inquiries about the gas company, and he heard that it had a big floating debt. There were other signs of neglect in the management, yes, and of inefficiency. The directors were all “leading citizens,” “prominent business men,” “veterans in finance.” They were just the sort of men that business men would put upon a board of aldermen or supervisors to give good business government. Yet this young man found that these picked business directors were neglecting their duty to him as a stockholder, very