12 SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT LOCATION. Ogden, Utah's Great Railroad Center, is ideally situated near the junction of the Weber and Ogden rivers. The lofty Wasatch mountains and the famous Ogden Canon, 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. Within an hour's drive is a large sugar factory, in which are employed the most recent chemical processes of extracting and purifying the beet sugar. A public library, containing several thousand bound volumes and the leading magazines of the country, is kept open daily. Opportunities are frequently afforded to hear speakers, orators, 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 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 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 WEBER STAKE ACADEMY. 13 Saints have made so many sacrifices. To permit this condition of affairs to exist among us would be criminal. The desire 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.