(lass _. 
 
 Book 
 
 PRESENILE) BY 
 
SENATOR 
 
 JOHN WINGATE WEEKS 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES G. WASHBURN 
 Former Congressman from Massachusetts 
 
 REPRINTED FROM 
 THE BOSTON EVENING TRANSCRIPT 
 
 "The Republican Party could not do better than to 
 nominate Senator Weeks, a leader of proved capacity, 
 already widely recognized; honest in thought, per- 
 suasive and convincing in argument, calm in his judg- 
 ments; a man who has been tried in many positions 
 of public trust and not yet found wanting; a man who 
 has that rarest of gifts, the genius of common sense" 
 
 "The argument of locality should not be urged for or 
 against a candidate. We are to select a man for the 
 presidency and not a geographical expression. A mir- 
 acle of science has brought the entire area of our vast 
 country within the sound of the human voice; we no 
 longer contain within our borders warring sections — 
 prosperity and disaster to any one state is shared by all 
 the others. The 'Liberty Bell,' now making its im- 
 pressive progress across the country, is held in as 
 much veneration in California as in Pennsylvania" 
 
EU*V 
 
 AUG 24 >9Jj 
 
SENATOR JOHN WINGATE WEEKS 
 
1 
 
 ~^HE spontaneous, widespread and favorable mention 
 of John W. Weeks as a desirable candidate for the 
 presidency for the Republican party warrants a 
 close examination of his qualifications for this office, nomina- 
 tions for which will be made less than twelve months hence. 
 Mr. Weeks was born in Lancaster, N. H., April 11, 1860; 
 was graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 
 1881; served in the United States Navy as midshipman from 
 graduation until 1883, served in the Massachusetts Naval 
 Brigade ten years, from 1890 to 1900, the last six years of his 
 service as commanding officer of the organization, served as 
 lieutenant in the volunteer navy during the Spanish Ameri- 
 can War, commanding the second division of the auxiliary 
 navy, has been mayor of the city of Newton, Mass., was 
 elected to the Fifty-ninth Congress and took his seat in 
 December, 1905, was a member of the following committees: 
 Banking and Currency, Expenditures in the State Depart- 
 ment, was re-elected to the Sixtieth Congress, in which he 
 was a member of the same committees and the Committee 
 on Agriculture, he supported the Aldrich-Vreeland currency 
 bill and was a member of the Conference Committee which 
 made material changes in it and added the important clause 
 providing for the creation of the Monetary Commission, of 
 which Mr. Weeks was appointed a member, he was re-elected 
 to the Sixty-first Congress, and was chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on the Post Office and Post Roads. He took an 
 active part in getting reported from that committee and 
 enacted into law the bill establishing postal savings banks. 
 He framed and had charge of the forestry bill enacted into 
 law at that session, was re-elected to the Sixty-second 
 Congress, and introduced the bill for the protection of migra- 
 tory and insectivorous birds, known when enacted into law 
 as the Weeks-McLain bill. While a member-elect of the 
 Sixty-third Congress, he resigned to take his seat as senator, 
 March 4, 1913, in the Sixty-third Congress. 
 
 Until he began his service in the Senate, when he retired 
 from business, Mr. Weeks was a banker. When he was a 
 
candidate for the Senate, I made a statement from which I 
 make the following quotation: 
 
 "I served with Mr. Weeks in the second session of the 
 Fifty-ninth and in the Sixtieth and Sixty-first Congresses, 
 and my conclusions are based upon my own observations. 
 
 "He is a very convincing speaker. He always impresses 
 his hearers with his thorough knowledge of the subject with 
 which he is dealing. While positive in his statements, he is 
 persuasive in his manner, and what he says carries convic- 
 tion. He has executive ability of a high order, and any 
 matter of business intrusted to him receives prompt and 
 intelligent consideration. This is of the first consequence to 
 his constituents. A United States Senator has constantly a 
 large number of business questions to deal with, many of 
 them of vital consequence to the people of his state. 
 
 "Of Mr. Weeks's legislative capacity I wish to speak more 
 at length, as it is one of his most striking gifts and one of 
 great value to any cause he represents. I could give many 
 illustrations, I will only speak of three. Mr. Weeks entered 
 his service in the Fifty-ninth Congress. In the Sixty-first 
 Congress he was appointed chairman of the Committee on 
 Post Office and Post Roads, one of the most important of the 
 House committees, making annual appropriations of over 
 $200,000,000. He did not succeed to the chairmanship 
 because of seniority, for he was a comparatively new mem- 
 ber. He was transferred from another committee because 
 he had the qualities the place demanded. The post office 
 bill is as complicated as any of the great appropriation bills 
 which come before the House. It is full of material for 
 controversy from beginning to end, and every paragraph of 
 it is debated. It occupies the attention of the House for 
 several days. I remember that when Mr. Weeks brought in 
 the bill the first time there was a good deal of curiosity to 
 see how he would get along with it. His conduct won the 
 admiration of the House. He defended it successfully at 
 every point and showed great tact in dealing with compli- 
 cated situations which arose from time to time. The bill 
 was in such perfect shape that, contrary to the usual course, 
 it was adopted by the Senate without amendment. 
 
 "The second instance I shall cite is that of the White 
 
Mountain Appalachian bill, in which the people of this state 
 were so much interested. The Committee on Agriculture, 
 of which Mr. Weeks was a member, was about evenly divided 
 on the proposition. The chairman of the committee, Mr. 
 Scott of Kansas, a very strong man, was against it. There 
 were three distinct stages involved. First, getting a majority 
 of the committee to agree on a bill, second, getting the bill 
 before the House, and, third, passing the bill through the 
 House. Mr. Weeks successfully managed the bill in all these 
 stages. I have no hesitation in saying that had it not been 
 for him it would have failed. He marshalled the forces of 
 the North and South so effectually that this great measure 
 of conservation was put upon the statute book. 
 
 "The last illustration I shall use is that of the postal 
 savings bank bill. The subject had been widely discussed. 
 It had warm advocates and strong opponents. The matter 
 was so delicate that it was taken up in the Republican caucus 
 before it was introduced in the House. Mr. Weeks had 
 efficient aid, but he managed the bill in the caucus and in 
 the House, he was the man to remove the obstacles, to be 
 insistent here, to yield there; in a word, to deal with a situa- 
 tion in which the convictions and prejudices of honest men 
 were at variance and to produce a good result. I do not 
 think of a Republican during my term of service who had 
 more influence with the members of the House than Mr. 
 Weeks, whose conclusions always commanded confidence. 
 He has, too, an intimate practical knowledge of some of the 
 most important departments of the Government service. 
 Educated at Annapolis, he has a thorough knowledge of the 
 needs of the navy, for which we are now appropriating vast 
 sums of money in the expenditure of which a broad view of 
 our needs should be coupled with wise conservatism. 
 
 "He was a member of the Monetary Commission and is 
 most familiar with the practical and legislative aspects of 
 this most important subject which must soon come before 
 Congress for consideration and action." 
 
 Because of his familiarity with the subject, whatever he 
 
 said about the navy had great influence. In the House, on 
 
 one occasion, in reply to the argument that in the interest of 
 
 international peace the naval plan should be curtailed, Mr. 
 
 5 
 
Weeks insisted that a large navy is not for the purpose of 
 menacing a neighbor but to protect our growing commerce. 
 When the so-called "hazing bill" was before the House and 
 the statement was made that twenty-six ships had been lost 
 in twenty-five years and the deduction made that the per- 
 sonnel could not be of the highest efficiency, Mr. Weeks 
 answered at great length, reviewing the cause of the loss of 
 every ship since the Civil War, gave the name of the officer in 
 command and the result of every investigation. The speech 
 impressed the House with the completeness and accuracy of 
 his information and with the soundness of his conclusions. 
 The Boston Globe said, May 7, 1906: 
 
 "The navy is lucky to have a man like Congressman John W. Weeks 
 of Newton to speak for it; experienced, unprejudiced and moderate, de- 
 pending only on the cold facts and not given to forensic fireworks, he is 
 the very sort of man who can accomplish most in the national legislature." 
 
 The Army and Navy Journal said, May 19, 1906: 
 
 "The British military services enjoy the advantage of being represented 
 in Parliament by men whose experiences in command on land or at sea, 
 and whose professional training and knowledge enable them on occasions 
 to enlighten civil ignorance concerning military matters. We have no 
 similar representative of the services in our Congress, though occasionally 
 an ex-officer of the army or navy does find his way through the usual 
 channels of political preferment. A case in point is that of Representative 
 John W. Weeks, a graduate of the Naval Academy, who served in the 
 navy for six years after his graduation and again during the war with 
 Spain. How intelligent an understanding Mr. Weeks has of naval condi- 
 tions is indicated by the speech on the naval bill which he delivered in 
 the House of Representatives, Saturday, May 5." 
 
 The Washington Times said, June 22, 1906: 
 
 " If the bill that passed the House the other day, nationalizing the naval 
 militia, shall finally become law, it will mean a great advance for this 
 branch of our armed forces. 
 
 " The provisions of the law — passed largely through the hard and earnest 
 work of Representative Weeks of Massachusetts — will make each State 
 organization liable for service in any other State on order of the President, 
 and will also provide for the training of the men in this service by regular 
 officers of the navy. Under the present system the naval militia has 
 generally been coached by retired officers, and it has been a week's cruise 
 each year on some warship, but these advantages will be greatly extended 
 by the workings of the new law." 
 
The Springfield Republican said, June 3, 1906, in speaking 
 of the then new members of Congress: 
 
 "Of all of them, Mr. Weeks, Captain' Weeks, as a result of his naval 
 service in the Spanish War, is the one who has most conspicuously and 
 convincingly 'made good.' Fortunately for Mr. Weeks the affairs of the 
 Naval Academy at Annapolis have occupied unusual attention during this 
 session. Being himself a graduate of Annapolis-he resigned from the navy 
 after a brief service to go into business-Mr. Weeks has naturally been 
 looked upon as more or less an authority on naval matters, in spite of the 
 fact that he is not on the Naval Committee. It was upon his final speech 
 that those in charge of the bill in regard to hazing at Annapolis depended 
 for its passage, and the event proved the dependence well placed Mr 
 V\ eeks is not a showy speaker, he is merely clear and frank and there is no 
 room for suspicion that he does not himself believe exactly what he says." 
 
 Mr. Weeks has always favored the development of our 
 merchant marine. In a speech on this subject made on 
 February 16, 1907, he said: 
 
 "Mr. Chainnan, it must be admitted that it is a matter of some specu- 
 ation just what legislation should be adopted to give the greatest impetus 
 to our merchant marine and to put us in more direct communication with 
 markets which are now reached either through indirect channels or not at 
 all. 1 he fact is, however, and it must be apparent to every one, that our 
 merchant marine is at its lowest possible stage and that our direct com- 
 munications with various sections of the world, especially those South 
 American countries which should be among our best markets, and for 
 whose products we should supply a market, are extremely unsatisfactory 
 If any business man were managing the entire business affairs of the United 
 states, and there were millions of people producing a billion dollars of 
 foreign trade, as is the case in South America, with whom he has no satis- 
 factory connections, he would be utterly lacking in enterprise if he did not 
 at once attempt to obtain some part of that trade; and even though his 
 first attempts might be failures, he would continue to modify his methods 
 until he had obtained a reasonable share of it. Adopting the same reason- 
 
 !!?' V^™ ° f PaSSing this biI1 reported from the Committee on the 
 
 Merchant Marine, although in many respects it lacks what I believe are 
 the good qualities contained in the bill passed by the Senate last winter." 
 
 In the Senate Mr. Weeks is a member of the following 
 committees: Banking and Currency; Post Office and Post 
 Roads; Philippines; Coast Defenses; Conservation of Na- 
 tional Resources; Forest Reservation and the Protection of 
 Game; Public Health and National Quarantine; Indian 
 Depredations. 
 
Among the important speeches which he has made in the 
 Senate was that on the Underwood-Simmons Tariff Bill, 
 July 24, 1913. It was full of sound Republican doctrine. 
 
 "What we are concerned with," he said, "is the fact that the Republican 
 party believes in placing a duty on articles of home production, raising 
 sufficient revenue by so doing, and at the same time protecting the labor 
 and capital engaged in the industry from unequal competition." 
 
 He emphasized with a wealth of illustration the fact, so 
 often overlooked, that to keep our domestic prices low our 
 manufacturers must be able to run their mills on full time — 
 large production means low cost. He referred to President 
 Wilson's statement that "a Democratic Tariff will whet the 
 industrial wits," and added: 
 
 "Such a tariff is much more likely to sharpen the appetities of the 
 workers than the wits of the employer, who in many cases, as can be easily 
 demonstrated, is obliged to work his wits overtime in order to make a living 
 under present conditions and rates of duty." 
 
 Another speech was made December 5, 1913, on the 
 "Pending Currency Bill." The subject of finance is one of 
 which Senator Weeks is a master and he treated it exhaust- 
 ively. During the consideration of the bill in committee 
 and in the Senate he secured the adoption of many important 
 amendments. After contributing all he could, he voted for 
 the measure, not because it met his views completely, but 
 because he believed that the bill would greatly improve our 
 banking system. Mr. Weeks was a member of the Monetary 
 Commission, and might naturally have been over critical of 
 the bill proposed by his political opponents, but in his char- 
 acteristic way he co-operated cordially and was most helpful 
 in shaping the legislation. On December 16, 1913, he spoke 
 in opposition to guaranteeing bank deposits. At the close 
 of his speech he said : 
 
 "Mr. President, this whole system, in my judgment, is the confiscation 
 of good character. It is putting a man without record or reputation on the 
 same level with a man who has a record and a reputation. Kipling makes 
 the Tommy Atkins, who has lived a good part of his life in the indolent 
 atmosphere of the East, say something like this: 
 
 Take me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst; 
 Where there ain't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst. 
 
 8 
 
"That is exactly what we are doing; we are making the best like the 
 worst. We are not making the worst like the best. If we were going to 
 make the worst like the best we would provide for better methods of ex- 
 amination; we would provide that only men of proven character should be 
 put at the head of banking institutions; we would provide every means 
 surrounding banks and banking methods which would be business-like and 
 sound. But as we are proposing to act we are dragging the best down to 
 the same level with the worst scoundrel who ever looted a bank. That is 
 what I am opposed to. I favor any scheme that is proposed for making 
 conditions better— for building up men rather than dragging them down. 
 But in this case we are going to put all kinds of men — those who have 
 proven their character and reputation, who have established a credit which 
 is a part of their capital — on exactly the same level that we do the man 
 who has never established a reputation and probably never would if he had 
 the opportunity. It is fundamentally wrong; it is unmoral, if a thing can 
 be unmoral in business; and it never ought to be countenanced in this 
 body." 
 
 Senator Weeks believes that the railroads of the country 
 cannot be properly administered without intelligent Govern- 
 ment supervision, but he was opposed to the trade com- 
 mission bill and the Clayton bill, his views upon which were 
 well summarized in an address he made December 8, 1914, 
 at Chicago, before the Illinois Manufacturers' Association, 
 at the close of which he said : 
 
 " If there is force in what I have said it follows that the Government is not 
 an economical but an expensive business agency, that commission or bureau- 
 cratic methods are likely to be harmful to business activities and extensions, 
 that there is a tendency on the part of bureau officers to reach out for more 
 power even if they do not assume authority which the law does not give 
 them, that the red tape incident to Government methods is not conducive 
 to the best interests of any business and may be instrumental in bringing 
 it, as in the case of the railroads, to the verge of bankruptcy and that legis- 
 lation similar to the trade commission bill places all business of any consider- 
 able volume in a strait-jacket which will retard its growth and increase the 
 expense of operation without any corresponding benefits. 
 
 "Monopolies should not be tolerated unless they are of the character 
 of the railroads or those incident to a patent, in which case they should 
 be controlled. Consolidations should be permitted where the public in- 
 terest will not be affected adversely by so doing. Competition in ordinary 
 business should be encouraged and generally speaking it may be de- 
 pended on to work out the best results for not only the producer but the 
 consumer. The common law will provide means to prevent the operations 
 of those who use fraudulent or oppressive methods. Punish the individual 
 who violates the law but do not punish at the same time the entire trade 
 with which he is connected, its business, employees and the community 
 
which it serves. Remove all other handicaps from business, give it a real 
 freedom, make efficiency rather than Government supervision and restric- 
 tion its dominating influence." 
 
 On December 11, 1914, Senator Weeks spoke on the 
 establishment of a military reserve and said, among other 
 things: 
 
 "It is not for me to prescribe the size of the mobile army in the United 
 States, but rather to invite attention to what is considered by men who have 
 made a study of this question an adequate home defence and to show, if 
 possible, how imperfectly this home defence has been provided. The War 
 Department tells us the country needs for this defence 500,000 trained men, 
 supplemented by from 100,000 to 200,000 volunteers. The nation has in 
 the United States a mobile regular army of 31,500 enlisted strength and an 
 organized mobile militia of about 104,000 enlisted strength and no available 
 trained reserve. Certainly the War Department under these conditions 
 cannot be held responsible for the disastrous outcome of an attack made 
 upon this country. These figures presented by the War Department appear 
 rather stupendous, but they are not inconsistent with what this country 
 has been obliged to put in the field in most of its past wars, and until Cong- 
 ress furnishes the means to approximate the demands of the War Depart- 
 ment the responsibility for the results of any war must be borne by Congress. 
 
 "I am firmly impressed with the idea that haphazard legislation has too 
 long been indulged in with reference to the development of our military 
 resources; that the questions of policy, of economy in maintenance, of effec- 
 tiveness in the costly machine which we are forced to maintain, have not 
 been intelligently met — certainly they have not been satisfactorily solved. 
 
 "I am heartily in favor of seeing such a body, a national defence council, 
 legislated into prompt existence. Congress then would not be asked to 
 provide for the policies and individual opinion of varying administrations 
 and military committees, which so far have been ineffective and costly, 
 but some definite scheme would be thought out for the economical develop- 
 ment and maintenance of that part of our military resources considered 
 necessary for our national defence. 
 
 "A man can only be an efficient soldier by subjecting himself to that 
 training which will make him one. The nation lost the vast reserve of 
 soldiers trained by five years of active service in the Civil War; it has no 
 developed professional leaders except those trained in the regular army; it 
 has failed to utilize as part of its developed military strength the men who 
 have been trained and discharged from the regular army. Our militia, 
 although composed of a fine body of capable men, cannot be considered as a 
 whole a reliable fighting force at the outbreak of war. Our nation has 
 neglected absolutely the lessons taught by its past defective military policy, 
 and is persistent in the policy which our past history has shown to be foolish 
 and exceedingly wasteful in human life and money. 
 
 " If the people of this country believe that this great nation cannot sup- 
 port an army of the size sufficient for its defence, it may be within the pro- 
 
 10 
 
vince of its representatives to prescribe the size of the army the nation be- 
 lieves it can afford; but they should then be prepared to assume the respon- 
 sibility for the nation's undefended condition. This is perhaps within the 
 province of Congress, but for Congress to dictate the organization of the 
 army, especially when such is opposed to what all military experts of all 
 nations say, is reprehensible; for, although Congress must assume the re- 
 sponsibility for the condition, it would have no power to avert the disaster 
 which will in war afflict the nation because of this policy. 
 
 "Finally, I believe that laws should be passed at once which will reor- 
 ganize the regular army. This reorganization should give the mobile army 
 the proper proportion of infantry, field artillery, cavalry, engineers, signal, 
 sanitary troops, the needed ammunition and supply trains, and provide for 
 properly equipped depots. The law must provide that the men serve the 
 shortest time with the colors necessary to train them as soldiers, and then 
 pass them as soon as trained to a reserve, and that while serving in this 
 reserve the men must be paid, and must further provide that service, in 
 the reserve shall be at least three times the service with the colors, and this 
 can be best done by dividing the reserve into three classes — the first to be 
 composed of men who will be used to mobilize the organizations, the 
 service in this class to be about three years and the men to be preferably 
 unmarried; second class to be composed of men who will supply the wastage 
 of a six months' campaign, service in this class to be three years and the 
 men to be preferably unmarried; the third class to form the depot troops, 
 service in this class to be approximately three years. 
 
 "A similar reserve to be provided for the militia, and as this reserve is a 
 Federal and not a State asset the militia reserve should also be paid by the 
 National Government. Laws should also be passed to provide trained 
 commissioned officers for the reserve and for such volunteers as may be 
 needed. A fine body of such reserve commissioned officers can probably 
 be obtained from the discharged non-commissioned officers of the regular 
 army and from the graduates at West Point, if the plan I have suggested 
 were put into operation, by paying them such part of $300 as may be needed 
 to purchase their uniforms and equipments." 
 
 As one would expect from a graduate of the Naval Acad- 
 emy, Senator Weeks is an educated critic of this branch of 
 the service, and favors a strong navy thoroughly equipped 
 with trained men and kept at the fighting edge by con- 
 stant practice and mancevures. Senator Weeks favored a 
 merchant marine when a member of the House, as has been 
 stated, and also in the Senate. In 1914 he introduced a bill, 
 which passed the Senate, to take those auxiliary ships of 
 the navy which might be available for the purpose and es- 
 tablish a line from the east coast of the United States, first 
 to the west coast of South America, with the hope of grad- 
 ually supplementing that line by the construction of mer- 
 11 
 
chant ships, ships which would be available for cargo carry- 
 ing and at the same time available for use by the navy in 
 case of war. 
 
 Senator Weeks was strongly opposed to the shipping bill, 
 so-called, providing for the Government ownership of 
 merchant vessels, and in that memorable fight took a con- 
 spicuous part. He had the confidence of the members on 
 both sides, and to him much credit is due for the failure of 
 the majority, with the powerful backing of the Administra- 
 tion, to enact this legislation into law. 
 
 The Boston Globe and other Boston papers made the 
 following comment: 
 
 " Reviewing the struggle as a near battle, Senator Lodge pays the warm- 
 est possible tribute to the intelligence, capacity, organizing ability and 
 tenacity of Senator Weeks. The latter was the uncrowned general of the 
 ship bill fight and had his forces perfectly organized. It was Mr. Weeks's 
 business to see that every opposing vote was always ready and they never 
 once failed. The forty-seven were at the scratch whenever wanted. Mr. 
 Lodge says he never saw it equalled." 
 
 MENTIONED AS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE 
 
 During the winter of 1914-1915, without any suggestion 
 from him or his friends, Senator Weeks was mentioned by 
 many Republicans of all shades of opinion as an ideal candi- 
 date for the presidency. The feeling grew in strength as 
 time progressed and extended over a continually increasing 
 area of the country. 
 
 At the close of a session which had been practically con- 
 tinuous for two years, Senator Weeks went to the two expo- 
 sitions on the Pacific Coast for rest and recreation. He 
 accepted some of the invitations to speak which his friends 
 and colleagues pressed upon him, and apparently made a 
 most favorable impression wherever he went. His journey 
 led him through Kansas into Southern California, and thence 
 up the coast to Seattle. In Kansas the Iola Register said 
 under date of April 6, 1915. 
 
 "John W. Weeks is of national size and he is sure to be of national 
 reputation. That was demonstrated by the reception that was given to him 
 and to his message last week at Kansas City and at Topeka. In both these 
 places he spoke to several hundred representative business men, and the 
 impression he made upon them was one which any man may well be proud 
 
 12 
 
to have made— the impression that he is a clean, capable, courageous, 
 big man. He practiced none of the arts of oratory, he did not utter a sen- 
 tence that bore the mark of careful polishing, but he said something every 
 minute he talked, and when he finished every man who heard him felt that 
 he had been listening to one who knew what he was talking about and who 
 was not only informed but sincere. 
 
 "And that is the kind of a man John W. Weeks is. The writer of this 
 was intimately associated with him in the public service for six years and he 
 never knew a man who more fully measured up to the highest standards of 
 such service. He mastered every subject to which his duty assigned him, 
 he stayed by every task, however irksome, until it was finished, he followed 
 public opinion when he thought it was right and he combated it when he 
 thought it was wrong, and so he came by the divine right of the capable 
 and the honest and the strong to a position of leadership in the House of 
 Representatives. His best work in the House, perhaps, was done as chair- 
 man of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, where his knowledge 
 of the subject and his business judgment enabled him to bring in an appro- 
 priation bill carrying $300,000,000 which passed the Senate without the 
 change of a figure or a word— an achievement never before attained. But 
 he also did great work on the Committee on Banking and Currency and 
 on the Committee on Agriculture. He was a member of the Monetary 
 Commission, and he was recognized in the Senate, although he entered that 
 body only two years ago, as one of the highest authorities on the subject 
 when the new, banking bill was under consideration. It was his influence 
 perhaps, more than that of any other senator, that was felt in the 480 
 changes that were made in that bill as it came from the House— changes 
 that converted it from a bungled, impossible proposition to a measure 
 that is at least worth a fair trial 
 
 "Mr. Weeks was born in New Hampshire on a farm. He was educated 
 at the Naval Academy, intending to make the navy his profession. At the 
 time of his graduation, however, there were no battleships in need of 
 officers, so with the rest of his class he was discharged and found himself 
 thus unexpectedly thrown back into civil life with neither trade, profession 
 nor fortune. He began at the bottom, therefore, and it is wholly through 
 his own efforts that while yet in middle life he has amassed a comfortable 
 fortune. When he entered public life he was actively engaged in bank- 
 ing and in a number of other enterprises, and it is characteristic of him that 
 when elected to the Senate he disposed of all his business interests so that 
 he might give his whole time to the public service and be free from even the 
 suspicion of being influenced by any private consideration in any official 
 
 act 
 
 Being schooled in the history of his country and well grounded in 
 sound principles of government, it follows that Senator Weeks has never 
 followed off after any of the political vagaries that have been so prevalent 
 throughout the country during these past few years. He has been just 
 a Republican, a typical Republican, conservative as to principles, con- 
 structive as to measures, a statesman, not an agitator nor an experimenter 
 
 13 
 
He has been in entire sympathy with the sentiment that has resulted in the 
 proper regulation and control of "Big Business," and he has no sympathy 
 at all with the nagging and narrow propaganda which would apply the 
 strait-jacket to all business. 
 
 "The mention of the name of Senator Weeks in connection with the 
 presidency is due to no hint or suggection of his own, and he refuses, with 
 modesty that is characteristic of him, to discuss it. His friends are under 
 no such restrictions, however, and they are responsible for the fact that it 
 has already become a matter of wide and favorable comment. And the 
 better the country becomes acquainted with him the wider and the more 
 favorable is that comment sure to become." 
 
 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, heading its article, "A 
 Man of the Hour," said: 
 
 "John Wingate Weeks, junior senator from Massachusetts, impressed 
 his strong personality upon this section of the coast during his recent visit. 
 He is a fine type of the business man in politics — the business man who en- 
 tered politics via the front door, who has full faith in the integrity and 
 patriotism of the business world in general and who would see no continued 
 estrangement between the Government and business, but mutual help- 
 fulness and confidence, and unselfish co-operation to conserve and pro- 
 mote the material interests of this great country. 
 
 "His convictions, sincerely entertained and courageously expressed, are 
 not reactionary, but truly progressive, and his statesmanship is all the 
 broader and more inspiring because practical and possessing the dominant 
 quality of common sense. 
 
 "Trained for the navy, a graduate of Annapolis academy; schooled in 
 finance in conservative Boston; a student in municipal affairs, with a 
 record of good service as alderman; and a national lawmaker for years at 
 Washington devoted to the public weal — his career has been full of useful- 
 ness, marked by initiative and crowned with merited success. He is a 
 sturdy New Englander. 
 
 "Higher honor may be in store for him. His Republican colleagues in 
 Congress to a man esteem him for his demonstrated worth. His section 
 has ambition for him. On his own part he is dreaming no dreams. But 
 this much is most apparent and involves no hazard of the future: The 
 country has tired of the mouthings of political demagogues and the antics 
 of adventurers, opportunists and blatherskites, and is now demanding con- 
 structive service at the hands of honest, capable and practical men. 
 Among these John Wingate Weeks at this moment stands forth con- 
 spicuously and honorably, and bears the limelight test." 
 
 The Seattle Times, giving to its article the title "Senator 
 Weeks and Prosperity," said: 
 
 "John Wingate Weeks, senator of the United States, has deeply im- 
 pressed his views upon Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. In the series 
 
 14 
 
of remarkable speeches delivered by him here he has pointed out plainty 
 the main trouble in domestic affairs, and he has suggested the remedy. 
 
 "What is the matter when the country has all the usual elements of 
 prosperity, with prosperity lacking? Some extraordinary condition must 
 have arisen to cheat the people. Senator Weeks has employed a single 
 term to tell what it is — 'over-regulation.' There is too much theory and too 
 little practical knowledge. What is needed is a business man in the White 
 House. 
 
 "It follows that Senator Weeks is a type of legislator most urgently 
 needed in the United States to-day. Practical men are required in Senate 
 and House, and in the executive department of the Government. They 
 know the way to good times and could find it easily, if given the opportu- 
 nity. 
 
 "On that account, the visit of Senator Weeks to Seattle assumes the 
 character of an event. He has talked business as only a seasoned business 
 man schooled in affairs of state can talk; and he has delivered a most timely 
 and acceptable message of encouragement and cheer." 
 
 The argument of locality should not be urged for or 
 against a candidate. We are to select a man for the presi- 
 dency and not a geographical expression. A miracle of 
 science has brought the entire area of our vast country 
 within the sound of the human voice; we no longer contain 
 within our borders warring sections — prosperity and disaster 
 to any one state is shared by all the others. The "Liberty 
 Bell," now making its impressive progress across the coun- 
 try, is held in as much veneration in California as in Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
 The Republican party could not do better than to nomi- 
 nate Senator Weeks, a leader of proved capacity, already 
 widely recognized; honest in thought, persuasive and con- 
 vincing in argument, calm in his judgments; a man who has 
 been tried in many positions of public trust and not yet 
 found wanting; a man who has that rarest of gifts, the 
 genius of common sense. 
 
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