The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1916-04-20
SENATOR WEEKS TALKS
ON PREPAREDNESS
Continued from First Page)

his Den in hanu q labDFtOu5i- be
gan to write a letter that is. he wa
seemingly engaged in writing a let
ter. as a matter of fact, he was show
ing of before the school and experi
'~~~Ating with the new teacher Wber
ordered to yut his pen and paper
away. he smiled around the al
the pupils, who had stopped work
ing, and then resumed his writing.
y took him by the collar, dragged
him out of his sea 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 a buggy and : walking to or
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 a cruise
of two years. Seventy men were In
his class, but there was room for only
10 of them in the navy. The navy
itself consisted OF but FIVE steam YES
sells classed as hrst-rates. and they
were obsolete and unfit for active
duty. George Barnett, his roommate,
went into the Marine Corps and Is
now a major general and the CON
mandant of that branch of the naval
service.
In Florida, where he had been en-
gagged as a 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 n OF
the partners, and the youthful Mr..
Weeks bought the business, the lat
ter borrowing the money with which
to begin his career as a banker and
broker.
Hornblower acted for the firm on
the floor of the Boston Stock Elk
change. Weeks kept the books and
waited On the customers as they APP
peared. In a few years the two young
men had offices all over New England
and in cities as far away as Chicago.
II 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 | vas reading a newspaper. l
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
ia satisfactory to me. Whatever is
wrong is so small hat 1t is not worth
mentioning.
. Small to you, madam. the man
answered, but very large to u.s.
"'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.
II repeated the story to my partner
next day Captain Weeks said, and
from that time onward we tried TO
nlease our customers before we
thought of ourselves and the probable
nrofts we could make In our trans
actions"
Three years ago. following at once
bis election to the upper House OF
Congress. Captain Weeks sold out to
his mariners and disposed of every in
terest that might be thought. even in
directly. to influence his judgment as
a lawmaker. 1t it said in New Eng
land that he has always been very
careful about his reputation as a bust
ness man. An anecdote told of him
IN state street, the Wall street Of Bos-
ton. shows how his s-ensitiveness to
public opinion on n occasion proved
righly profitable to his partner and
himself.
A run on a bank in which Captain
Week was a director, though he
owned but 5000 OF the stock. threat.
aned so he feared, to injure his stand.
ing In the community. He spent q
day and a night at the bank. pledged
two-thirds OF all the property he and
his partner owned for the payment OF
the banks debts and put through a re
facilitating plall under which the
L~.~ahofdar were assessed so DaI