New-York tribune., 1918-06-18
Information for Senator Weeks


Elsewhere on this page we print a
letter from Senator John W. Weeks,
written under the apprehension that
The Tribune accused him of having an
improper interest in the pneumatic pos
tai tubes, and following his letter is one
from the First Assistant Postmaster
General containing information which
may be of value and interest to Senator
Weeks.
Wherein the Senator speaks for him
We did not mean to imply that his in
terest in the tubes was improper. We
did not say it was. We merely referred
to him as formerly Of Hornblower &
Weeks, the Boston banking house, which
had long been interested in pneumatic
shares. We knew that he withdrew from
the firm on entering the Senate in 1913.
We knew also of his long and honorable
career as member of the House Of
Representatives, from 1905 to 1913, and
of his familiarity with postal affairs
from having served for several years
as chairman of the House Committee on
Postoffices and Post Roads. e.
But the Senator speaks also for the
firm of Hornblower & Weeks, in which
he is mo longer partner, and for John
E. Milholland, and says, besides, that
our figures as to the cost Of acquiring the
tubes are all wrong. On these points
We accept his information with reserva-
tions
He says that the maximum cost of
acquiring the tubes will be only $4,-
1000, instead of between $1o,o00,00o
and $11,000,0O0, as The Tribune said.
But the legislation which he advocates
and which the House has twice rejected
provides that the tubes shall be pur-
chased for $4,427, 900, to be paid in
annual instalments over a period of ten
years, and that the government during
that time shall pay interest and upkeep
and cost of operation. That is to say,
the arrangement of purchase is COM
bined with mandatory order for con-
tinuous operation, and the actual ap-
preparation contemplated for the whole
PNI pOSC ID p4OyGOV,I9l. Lie IOSCOUlCG
Department wishes to abandon the tubes,
on the ground that they are obsolete
and wasteful, and spend not another
dollar on them, for purchase, upkeep,
interest or operation.
Senator Weeks speaks next on behalf
of John E. Milholland, saying that his
information is that this gentleman has
no interest in the tubes of New York,
Boston, st. Louis or Chicago, which would
mean that his interest is confined to the
tubes in Philadelphia. In the letter of
the First Assistant Postmaster General.
printed below that of Senator Weeks.
proof is submitted that the American
Pneumatic Service Company controls all
the others, and that Mr.. Milholland STYLES
himself chairman Of the controlling COM
pany.
Lastly, Senator Weeks speaks for his
old banking firm of Hornblower &
Weeks, saying that it has no interest in
tube shares, but that the stock in its
name by the list Of 1915 was held for
"a customer" He thinks the slightest
disclosed the facts. The Tribune was
naive enough to suppose that an exami-
nation of the stock list constituted an
investigation Of the facts, and that the
names of stockholders were the names
Of those interested in the stock. Sena
tor Weeks refers only to the stock list Of
1916. 1t may interest him to know
that as far back as we have looked-that
is, to 1906-Hornblowe & Weeks held
pneumatic tube shares.
We regret having been so awkward
as to seem to asperse Senator Weeks's
integrity. We never intended to do 50.
We value his character much more than
we prize his information about the
postal tubes.