Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/306



Spreckels, and the two have clashed sharply, as only two such juen can. But Spreckels, aggressive though he is, and positive, is not quick- tempered like Heney. He is serene and, when Heney storms, he waits. Heney is just and — he has humour. So Spreckels smiles till Heney laughs. Then, whoever is right wins, and who- ever is wrong doesn’t care, for there isn t a petty trait in either of these men. If they ever fall out, it will be because they ought to, for the big difference between them is fundamental.

Heney is a democrat; Spreckels is an aristocrat, and an autocrat. Both of them have been too active all their lives to have thought out their philosophies to the definiteness of policy, and they should be able to go far together before they split. For they both are, and probably long will be, fighting what both of them detest, a rotten plutocracy, founded on class hate. But, by and by, when they come to build up where they have torn down, either Heney or Spreckels will go asunder or Spreckels will go on learning what Heney knows by heart.

I say “go on” learning because I think I never have seen a man learn so fast as Mr. Spreckels has. That is why I believe in him. Since the first time I met the man, I have never doubted his integrity; nor the singleness of his