W. H. Wattis, second from left, poses before a golf game with Utah-Idaho Sugar vice president Stephen H. Love, left; LDS Church President Heber J. Grant; businessman and Grant's counselor Charles W. Nibley; and United States Senator Reed Smoot. Courtesy of the LDS Church Historical Department W. H. Wattis, who replaced David Eccles as president of the Utah Construction Company, invited Marriner, in 1921, to join the Board of Directors. Marriner accepted, attended a few meetings, and then wrote Wattis suggesting that the company hold more regular board meetings and provide more information to the directors. "In a blazing response, Wattis said that the proposals were unwarranted criticism of his own conduct, that Marriner was a heartless ingrate, self-centered, arrogant, grasping," wrote Eccles' biographer. By then the pressures of Marriner's struggles to conserve his family's interests had thickened his skin. "He retorted that he had not 'bulled' his way to a place on the Board ... but as long as he stayed, he expected to fulfill his responsibilities as a director. If he was denied a voice in making decisions, he was prepared to resign. Wattis spoke for the declining age of the amateur, and Marriner for the rising age of the expert." In 1922 Eccles merged the Ogden First National Bank and the Ogden Savings Bank with the Utah National Bank, at which Matt Browning presided. Eccles then established the Eccles Investment Company. The acquisition of several Idaho banks justified the 1928 creation of the First Security Corporation, with Eccles as president. This was one of the earliest holding companies for banks in the nation. Just as Eccles reached this apex in his career, the stock market crashed. The closing of the Ogden State Bank traumatized both bankers and depositors. Daily, Eccles discussed strategy with colleagues and personnel to save the other banks, including his own, from disastrous "runs" by depositors anxious to withdraw their funds.