Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1916-04-21

away. he smiled around the room at
the pupils. who had stopped work
ing, and then resumed his writing.
Il took him by the collar, dragged
him out Of his seat and gave him a
thorough whipping. He turned out
to be the son Of the chairman Of the
prudential committee. The old man
never spoke to me again, not even
when / met him in the road. he rid
ing in q buggy and ] walking to- OF
from my work"
Went to Sea for Two Years.
On his graduation at the Annapolis
Naval Academy, young John Win
gate Weeks went to sea for q cruise
OF two years. Seventy men were In
his class, but there was Dol for only
10 Of them in the navy. The navy
itself consisted OF but ave steam yes
sells classed as 1rst-rates. and they
were obsolete and unit for active
duty. George Barnett, his roommate,
went into the Marine Corps and is
nov a major general and the com
mandant OF that branch of the naval
service.
In Florida, where he had been en-
gagged al a surveyor on q railroad, the
late Midshipman Weeks learned that
an old firm IN Boston was going out
of business. One Of the partners had
died and another had become blind.
Henry Hornblower, a son Of n Of
the partners, and the youthful Mr..
Weeks bought the business, the lat.
ter borrowing the money with which
to begin his career 81 q banker and
broker.
Hornblower acted for the firm on
the floor Of the Boston Stock Elk.
change. Weeks kept the books and
waited or the customers as they ap'
peared. In a few years the two young
men had offices all over New England
and in cities Rs far away as Chicago.
81 got my first valuable business
idea from q famous New England
dressmaker," Captain Weeks said to
the writer Of this article. "A friend
who came TO spend the night at ouI
house was talking to Mrs. Weeks
while l was reading a newspaper.
heard her q that she had bought q
dress in Boston, and that soon after.
on returning to the store, the pro
prietor, noticing her at the counter
asked II 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
snail 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 1t Is not worth
mentioning
Small to you, madam the mar
answered, but very large to u.s.
And do you know the woman
told Mrs. Weeks, the dress was moi
only taken back, but 1t was kept ant
/ was given a new one.
II repeated the story to my partner
next day" Captain Weeks said, "anC
from that time onward we tried tC
please our customers before We
thought of ourselves and the probable
profits we could make In our trans
actions"
Three years ago. following at onc'
his election to the upper House o.
Congress, Captain Weeks sold out t
his partners and disposed Of every in
terest that might be thought, even in
directly, to influence his Judgment al
a lawmaker. It 1t said in New Eng
land that he has always been very
careful about his reputation as a bust
ness man. An anecdote told of hin
in State street, the Wall street of Bos
ton, shows how his constituencies Il
public opinion on one occasion proved
highly profitable to his partner anC
himself.
A run on q bank in which Captain
Weeks was a director, though HI
owned but $500 Of the stock, threat
ened, so he feared. to injure his stand
ing in the community. He spent
day and a night at the bank, pledged
two-thirds of all the property he anC
his partner owned for the payment o
the banks debts and put through a re
facilitating plan under which thu
shareholders were 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 ~prospereC
and later was combin with othei
large banks. Boston financiers say
that Mr.. Hornblower and Mr.. Weeks
ultimately made $3.50, 900 on the stool
WhASn NnOy PAAIuuoOu WhCn NnO bdnl
seemed to be on the verge Of ruin.
When ! asked Captain Weeks abou
the matter, he said: Il was a young
man and couldn't AFFORD to be a di
rector IN a bank that had closed III
doors in the faces of its depositors
many OF whom were poor and mos
Of whom were small merchants anC
wage-earners."
How" I asked him, Inasmuch al
he was q sailor himself once, and h
now on terms Of intimacy with man!
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 / have
great respect did not agree with me
They ranked our navy third or fourth
SOM giving France second place
and some believing Germany wal
stronger at sea than ourselves.