Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/305



That’s Rudolph Spreckels’s story, in brief. Can you see the man ? Stress has been laid upon his youth and his self-reliance, his fearless readiness to fight. But there is an amiability about the man that is very winning. He is hard, hard as youth, both in conflict and in his judgments of men. “Are you with me?” he asked a friend, and when the friend began to “explain,” Spreckels cut him short: “Then you’re against me. That’s all I wanted to know.” And his friend didn’t like that; none of the men that know him do; Spreckels is so cold-blooded in opposition. But he is reasonable, most generous, and even charming as an ally. When Heney’s friends learned that he was “with Spreckels,” they warned him.

“Look out, Frank! You want to run yourself and all your own undertakings. So does Spreckels, and Spreckels will run this prosecution of yours. He must dominate.” “I know,” said one banker; “I’ve gone into business schemes with hirn, but I never do now any more unless I’m willing to have him be the whole show. It’s safe to let him —he is a master manager; but I found out that if anybody opposed him, he would bust the scheme, you, and himself rather than not have his own way.”

So Heney expected to have trouble with