8 FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT In response to the demands of the times, more advanced studies have been gradually added to the curriculum; and the school is now prepared, through the increase of its faculty, to do thorough work in all the courses offered. Additions and changes in the buildings and grounds have also been made from year to year, making the school strictly modern and up-to-date in every sense. LOCATION. As Ogden is the railroad center of Utah, access is easy to students who attend its schools. The location is beautiful, and the climate is pleasant and healthful. The lofty Wasatch mountains, just east of the city, afford excellent opportunities for the study of natural science. Near the city limits is one of the largest and most complete power plants in the country, where students of physical science have the privilege of studying the generation and transmission of electricity; and within an hour's drive is a large sugar factory, in which are employed the most recent chemical processes of extracting and purifying beet sugar. A public library, containing several thousand bound volumes and the leading magazines of the country, is kept open daily. Opportunities are frequently offered to hear speakers, actors, and singers of national reputation. Hence, students who attend the schools of Ogden have many advantages not enjoyed by those studying in institutions less favorably situated. GENERAL PURPOSE. The aim of the Academy is to promote the moral, intellectual, and physical development of man. Special WEBER STAKE ACADEMY. 9 emphasis is given to religious education, in accordance with the sentiments expressed in the following extract from the letter referred to in the first paragraph above: "We feel that the time has arrived when the proper education of our children should be taken in hand by by us as a people. Religious training is practically excluded from the district schools. The perusal of books that we regard as divine is forbidden. Our children, if left to the training they receive in these schools, will grow up entirely ignorant of those principles of salvation for which the Latter-day Saints have made so many sacrifices. To permit this condition of things to exist among us would be criminal. The de-sire is universally expressed by all thinking people in the Church that we should have schools wherein the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants can be used as text books, and where the principles of our religion may form a part of the teaching of the schools." The Principles of the Gospel are systematically studied from the standard works of the Church, with the view of creating faith in the minds of the students, and a sense of moral responsibility in all their associations and duties. Students belonging to other churches may be excused from taking theology by application to the principal. ADMISSION. The Academy is open to students of both sexes, and of all nationalities and religious denominations. Candidates for admission must be of good moral character, and signify their intention to keep themselves in harmony with the spirit and teachings of the institu-