“ SPRECKELS, CLAUS (1828-1908) , American capitalist, was born in Lanstedt, Hanover, in 1828. In 1846, to escape army service, he emigrated to the United States and became a grocer. In 1856 he removed from New York City to San Francisco, where he set up as a grocer, then a brewer, and later a sugar refiner. He gradually obtained control of most of the sugar refineries on the Pacific coast; he was able to undersell his competitors because he bought his raw sugar in Hawaii, where he purchased large plantations and contracted for the produce of others. ”