Chapter 4 Weber College as a State Institution 1933-1945 The Great Depression of the 1930s was a traumatic experience for most Americans, and at the low point of the depression, Weber College was transferred from church to state ownership July 1, 1933. The Bamberger Electric Railroad had just gone into receivership. The 1933 session of the Utah State Legislature had recommended that all state salaries be reduced by fifteen percent. The bottom had fallen out of agricultural prices. In Stockton, California, a quart of milk could be purchased for two cents if purchased alone and one-half cent if purchased with other groceries. About 43,000 workers in Utah of the states work force of 170,000 were out of work, more than 25 of the states workers. Thirty-three thousand Utah families were on relief. Twenty-five Utah banks had failed since 1929, and one of them was A. P. Bigelows Ogden State Bank. Across the nation banks were closed, 13 million workers were unemployed, millions of farmers were on the brink of foreclosure, and many others had fallen over the brink. Newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt who had promised the nation a New Deal was inaugurated on March 4, 1933-Recently elected governor of Utah, Henry Blood took office in January, 1933. In the midst of this devastating financial situation the Utah State Legislature in its 1933 session had considered and reconsidered the junior college situation in the state. In order to provide more stable funding for the new junior colleges, state senator Ira Huggins of Ogden proposed a bill providing for the manufacture of 3.05 percent beer in Utah for sale to states that had legalized the sale of beer. The repeal of prohibition was imminent, and Huggins saw this bill as both a revenue measure for the support of the new colleges and as an employment measure for local breweries. 50 of the monies raised from the bill were to be allocated to a special fund to be known as the junior college fund and the balance was to accrue to the general fund. The controversial bill was difficult to steer through the legislature, but eventually was passed on the 58th day of the 60 day session with much support from northern Utah and from the Ogden Standard Examiner. With the passage of this bill and amendments to it made by later legislatures, Weber College from July 1, 1933onward would be supported by appropriations from general state funds. The requirement for local funding support for state supported junior colleges which had been considered in 1931 and 1932 was dropped by the 1933 legislature. Snow College had moved under state control in 1932 while Weber and Dixie moved from the church to the state in 1933. The names given the schools by state statute were: Snow College, Weber College, and Dixie Junior College. Legislators representing the Salt Lake area were the most opposed to the creation of the new junior colleges. In 1937 the state legislature created Carbon College as a new junior college in Price. Weber College began its career as a state institution with many traditions as a church institution and with physical facilities which had served the institution well. The Moench Building had twelve lecture rooms, eight laboratories, an auditorium with a seating capacity of 800, and a library with stack rooms and reading rooms sufficient to accommodate 1000 students. English, modern languages, art, home economics, and beauty culture were all taught in classrooms which were in former homes which were owned by the college but had been purchased through the Alumni Association. The college owned a girls dormitory located at 2421 Jefferson Avenue which would accommodate 20 students. The Weber gymnasium and the double tennis court on the campus remained as part of the College as it was transferred to the state. The College had also played a part in the development of the Ogden Stadium at Lorin Farr Park including the purchase of the reflectors for the night lighting system. As the College moved under state control, questions were raised about properties and equipment purchased by the Weber alumni. Initially the Alumni purchases were not given to the state, but by the end of the 1934-1935 school year, much of the equipment and facilities purchased with alumni funds had been placed under state control. Weber College received many benefits from state and national relief and recovery programs as they were geared up to move the country out of the depression. Weber students received wages amounting to 4,100 through the state public works director at a rate of 50 cents an hour and were allowed to work up to 6 hours a day and up to 30 hours a week. This assistance allowed many Weber students to stay in school. In 1934, C.W.A. (Civil Works Administration) workers remodeled and enlarged the Moench Building at a cost of 53,000. The 53,000 total had come to the college from the C.W.A. (25,000), the state of Utah public works program (10,000), and Utah state sales tax to relieve unemployment (18,000). Laboratories and lounges were renovated, sidewalks and outside lights were added, and new classrooms and laboratories were built under the direction of George F. Johnson, architect for the State Board of Education. Public works funds were also secured for the construction of a new west entrance to the Weber gymnasium and the remodeling of the mens locker facilities. Weber College operated as a new state institution under the direction of the State Board of Education. The Board approved a 56,100 salary budget for Weber for the 1933-1934 school year, with faculty members Guy Hurst (Business), Leland Monson (English), Russell Croft (Botany), Ralph Gray (Chemistry), John Lind