Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-04-01

the nupils. who had stopped WORK
ing. and then resumed his writing.
Il took him by the collar. dragged
him ont of his seat and gave MN
thorough whipping. ne turned ou a
to be the son OF the chairman Oh tne
prudential committee. me ola nlan
never spoke to me again, not even
when | met him in the ROAD. he f'u-
ing in a buggy and ! walking TO OF
from my work
Went to Sea for Two Years.
On his graduation at the Annapohs
Naval Academy, young John W.
gate Weeks went to sea 1or clu': 30
Of two years. Seventy men were ~
his class, but there was room lor oniy
20 of them in the navy. Inc navy
itself consisted OF but five steam Vs.
sells classed as flrst-rates, ana tnes
were obsolete and unfit for actlVe
duty. George Barnett, MS roon1'lla' o.
went into the Marine Corps anu 10
now a major general and the coln,
mandant OF that branch OF the ha'a'
service.
In Florida, where he had been en-
gagged as a surveyor on rallroaa' ,ne
late Midshipman Weeks learned tnat
an old firm in Boston was gong ous
OF business. One Of the partners naa
died and another had become pl'nu
Henry HornbloWer, son OF one W
the partners, and the youthlul ~. ~. :
Weeks bought the business, the iat'
ter borrowing the money with WHICH
to begin his career as banker anu
broker.
Hornblower acted for the firm on
the floor of the Boston STOCK HA,
change. Weeks kept the books aSu
waited on the customers as they ap-
peared. In a few years the two young
men had offices all over New England
and in cities as far away as Chlcaeo'
Il got my first valuable business
idea from a famous New England
dressmaker," Captain Weeks said TO
the writer of this articl'. "A friend
who came to spend the night at our
house was talking to Mrs. weeks
while was reading newspaper
heard her say that she had bought a
dress. in Boston, and that soon AFTER
on returning to the store, the pro-
prietor, noticing her at the counter
asked if she had purchased the dress
she was wearing at his establishment
On learning that she had, he said:
1T is not right Please give your
name and address to the clerk and we
shall correct the matter at once
A Story Of Great .'aIue.
But the woman replied, the dress
is satisfactory to me. Whatever is
wrong is 80 small that it is not worth
MENTIONING
Small to you, madam the man
answered, but very large to us.
do you know the woman
told Mrs. Weeks, the dress was not
only taken back, but it was kept and
was given new one.
II repeated the story to my partner
next day." Captain Weeks said, and
from that time onward we tried to
please our customers before we
thought of ourselves and the probable
profits we could make In our trans
actions"
Three years ago, following at once
his election to the upper House Of
Congress, Captain Weeks sold out tc
his partners and disposed Of every IN
terest that might be thought, even in
directly, to influence his judgment al
a lawmaker 1t it said in New Eng
land that he has always been very
careful about his reputation as bust
ness man. An anecdote told Of hin
in State street, the Wall street Of Bos
ton, shows how his sensitiveness t
public opinion on one occasion proved
highly profitable to his partner ani
himself.
A run on bank in which Captain
Weeks was a director, though hi
owned but 5000 of the stock, threat
ened, so he feared, to injure his stand
ing in the community. He spent 1
day and a night at the bank, pledged
two.thirds OF all the property he anG
his partner owned for the payment o.
the banks debts and put through re
habilitating plan under which thu
shareholders we're assessed so pei
cent. on their holdings. The banl
was saved, but some of the fright
ened shareholders sold out. Their in
terests were promptly bought by
Captain Weeks. The bank prospered
and later was combin with Other
large banks. Boston financiers say
that Mr.. Hornblower and Mr.. Weeks
ultimately made $250,O0O on the stock
which they purchased when the bank
seemed to be on the verge OF ruin.
When / asked Captain Weeks about
the matter, he said: Il was a young
man and couldn't afford to be a d.
rector in bank that had closed its
doors in the faces of its depositors
many of whom were poor and most
of whom were small merchants and
vage-earners."
'How," asked him, inasmuch 4,
he was sailor himself once, and ID
now on terms of intimacy with many
high officers, would you describe the
navy of the United States?'
AT the outbreak of the war in Eu
rope" he answered, "our navy, in my
opinion, was the second best in exis
tence. Authorities for whom l have
great respect did not agree with me
They ranked our navy third or fourth
some giving France second place
and some believing Germany va,
stronger at sea than ourselves.
II still think that in ships alone w
were the equal Of France or German,
and much the superior Of Japan. Oul
officers are the ablest in the world;
our crews are the most intelligent NJ
nation gives its officers the trainina
that is given to the naval officers OF
the United States. And the men in
our ships, coming from farms and VII
lagos. in large part, are the finest
morally and physically afloat.