Oral History Program George Alvey Weatherspoon Interviewed by Mack S. Taft circa 1960s Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah George Alvey Weatherspoon Interviewed by Mack S. Taft circa 1960s Copyright © 2016 by Weber State University, Stewart Library iii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The Great Depression in Weber County, Utah, is an Oral History Project by Mack S. Taft for completion of his Master’s Thesis at Utah State University during the summer of 1969. The forty-five interviews address the Great Depression through the eyes of individuals in several different occupations including: Bankers, Laborers, Railroad Workers, Attorneys, Farmers, Educators, Businessmen, Community and Church Leaders, Housewives, Children and Physicians. All of these individuals lived in Weber County from 1929 to 1941. The interviews were based on what they remembered about the depression, how they felt about those events and how it affected their life then and now. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Weatherspoon, George Alvey, an oral history by Mack S. Taft, circa 1960s, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. 1 Abstract: This is an oral history interview with George Alvey Weatherspoon. Mr. Weatherspoon talks briefly about crime and bootlegging during Prohibition and the Depression. The interviewer is Mack Taft. MT: What do you remember about the law enforcement, and things of that type, particularly during the Depression? GW: Well, law enforcement was a lot different. It was when everything was wide open. There was gambling and whores and everything else when we first went in. Mac and the county attorneys closed most of them up. MT: What year did you go in? GW: 1935 or 1936. MT: Was there more drunkenness then than there would have been before the Depression years? GW: Well, I don’t think there was a good deal more. I think it was about all the same... MT: Is there anything else you can think of about the Depression years? GW: Well, there was quite a lot of bootlegging going on. MT: Was Prohibition a good move or a bad move? GW: I think Prohibition was a bad thing. I think things are a lot better now than during that time. MT: In what way? GW: Everyone was breaking the law. [Drinking] was against the law and there were a great number of fellows who were breaking it all the time. We had a lot of trouble trying to control it.