The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1916-04-21

s,""si he Snieu around the room at
the pupils, who had stopped work.
ing, and then resumed his writing.
TOOK him by the collar, dragged
MIN out OF his seat and gave him a
thorough whipping He turned out
70 De 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 buggy and | walking to or
from my work.
Went to Sea for Two Years.
On mis- graduation at the Annapolis
Naval Academy. young John Win
gate Weeks went to sea for cruise
OF two years Seventy men were in
MS class, but there was room for only
III or them in the navy. The navy
itself consisted of but five steam YES
sells classed as Illustrates, and they
were obsolete and unfit for active
duty. George Barnett, his room mate,
went into the Marine Corps and is
now major general and the COM
mandant of that branch OF the naval
service.
In Florida, where he had been en-
gagged as surveyor on a 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 one Of
the partners, and the youthful Mr..
weeks bought the business, the lat
ter borrowing the money with which
TO begin his career as banker and
broker
Hornblowec acted for the firm, on
the floor of the Boston Stock Ex-
change. Weeks kept the books and
waited on the customers as they ap-
peared. In few years the two young
men had offices all over New England
ana III cities as far away as Chicago.
Il got my first valuable business
idea from famous New England
dressmaker," Captain Weeks said to
the writer Of this article. A friend
who came to spend the night at our
house was talking to Mrs. Weeks
while | was reading a 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 Value.
But the woman replied, the dress
wrong is SO small that it is not worth
mentioning
Small to you, madam, the man
answered, but very large to US.
And do you know the woman
told Mrs. Weeks, the. dress was not
only taken back, but it was kept and
| was given a new one.
Il repeated the story to my partner
next day." Captain Weeks said, and
| from that time onward we tried tt
| 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 o.
| Congress, Captain Weeks sold out t
his partners and disposed of every IN
| terest that might be thought, even in
1 AlllGCLlyB " lALuCllNC 4llo Jd0SAhOAAt eAA
l lawmaker. 1t it said in New Eng
land that he has always been yer!
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 ant
| himself
A run on q bank in which Captain
| Weeks was a director, though h
owned but 5000 Of the stock, threat
| ened, so he feared, to injure his stand
| ing in the community. He spent
day and night at thexbank, pledges
| two-thirds of all the property he am
his partner owned for the payment o
the banks debts and put through re
| habilitating plan under which tn
shareholders were assessed so pc
cent. on their holdings. The ban
| was saved, but some of the fright
sned shareholders sold out. Their II
terests were promptly bought b
CAPTAIN Weeks. The bank prospere
and later was combined with othe
large banks. Boston financiers sa
that Mr.. Hornblower and Mr.. Week
ultimately made S250,000 on the stoc
which they purchased when the ban
| seemed to be on the verge of ruin.
When | asked Captain Weeks abou
the matter, he said: Il was a youn
man and couldn't afford to be a d
rector in a bank that had closed il
doors in the faces of its depositor'
many Of whom were poor and mos
of whom were small merchants an
wage-earners."
"How," l asked him, inasmuch q
he was a sailor himself once. and
now on terms Of intimacy with man
high officers, would you describe tn
navy of the United States%
cat the outbreak Of the war in 81
rome" he answered, 'our navy, in m
oninion. was the second best in ext
tence. Authorities for whom ! hav
Great respect did not agree with M
They ranked our navy third or fourt
some giving France second plac
and some believing Germany wa
stronger at sea than ourselves.
IL still think that in ships alone W
we're the equal of France or German
and much the superior of Japan, gu