The repeal of Prohibition in 1934 brought an old issue back to life in Idaho: how to control the sale of liquor and who should profit from it. In 1935 the state legislature approved a system of state control of distribution and sales of hard liquor.
Profits from sales at state liquor stores were a windfall for Idaho, and many people had ideas for spending the money. One plan, to use much of the money to build community colleges, was aired in this poem that made the rounds among state legislators in 1937:
BIGGER RED SCHOOLHOUSES
We want more colleges out in the sticks;
Coeur d’Alene, Boise, Twin and Ricks.
We want the state to furnish dough
To make these knowledge factories go.
Half the profit on gin you’re drinking
Will pave the way for higher thinking.
The sentiment was perhaps more valuable than the financial help, but Idaho did manage to install community colleges in the towns named. In a nod to the sentiments of drinkers and thinkers in 1930’s Idaho, 1% of the profit on liquor still goes to community colleges.