Mr. Waldo was born at Arcade, N.Y. on June 13, 1864. He attended the Michigan Agricultural College from 1881-83. In 1887 he was awarded the Ph.B degree and in 1890 the A.M. degree by Albion College, Mich. He attended Harvard during 1889-90. Kalamazoo College honored him with the LL.D. degree in 1912. His teaching and administrative experience include 2 years, 1890-92 as professor of history at Beloit College, Wis.; 7 years, 1892-1899, as professor of history and economics at Albion College; 5 years 1899-1904 as principal of the State normal school, Marquette, Mich.; the past 28 years as president of the Western State Normal School, Kalamazoo, Mich. This latter includes the brief sojourn while on leave of absence at Bellingham.

The administration of President Fisher, 1923.-Upon the return of President Waldo to Kalamazoo, the trustees selected Charles H. Fisher then president of the State normal school at Bloomsburg, Pa. He was a Pennsylvanian, having been born at York on April 25, 1880. His undergraduate study was done at Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pa., where he received the degree of A.B. in 1904. He then studied for the ministry, receiving the B.D. degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1907. He has also done graduate work at Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania.

During the year 1907-8 he was secretary of the Y.M.C.A. in New York City. From 1908 to 1912 he was instructor in history in the York High School. During the next 3 years, 1912-15 he was head of the history department in the high school at Trenton, N.J. He then became head of the department of education in the State normal school at West Chester, Pa., where he remained from 1915 to 1919. Synchronously he was acting professor of education at Swarthmore College, 1916-19. For a year, 1919-20 he then served as assistant director of the teachers' bureau in the office of the State superintend ent of public instruction, in Pennsylvania. His first executive posi tion was as president of the State normal school, Bloomsburg, Pa., 1920-23, when he resigned to accept the position at Bellingham.

Growth in enrollment.-The Bellingham Normal School attracted a goodly number of students from the outset. While students below high-school graduation were admitted until 1917 the number with high-school preparation was considerable, even before the law required graduation from an accredited high school. The attendance reached its peak in 1924-25. The higher standards for certification

following the legislation of 1923 and the more rigid requirements for continuance within the school developed by President Fisher then caused a decrease in the enrollment. An especially large registration has been maintained in the summer sessions which are now a regular quarter of the school year.

Financial support.-The Bellingham Normal School has been more fortunate from the outset in its financial support from the State than the other three normal schools. Although the first appropriation in 1893 was vetoed, since the institution got under way in 1899 there has been continuous and generous support. No disastrous fire has impeded operations as at Cheney and no executive vetoes of appropriations or bills for disestablishment have caused alarm as at some of the other normal schools of the State. The highest biennial appropri ations on a millage basis yielded well over half a million dollars. The table also shows substantial appropriations for capital outlays.

Trained teacher output.-Tables 43 and 44 indicate that the Bellingham Normal School has sent a large and steady stream of trained teachers into the public schools of the State. Table 43 shows the number and types of teaching credentials issued prior to 1917, the date of the law requiring graduation from an accredited high school for entrance.

Table 44 displays statistics of certification since 1916-17. The law of 1917 provided for 3- and 4-year courses. The 3-year courses had been authorized since 1909, but had attracted only a few students. Since 1917 a goodly number have finished the 3-year course. The 4year course retained very few until 1933, due to the fact that no degree was awarded and the graduate schools of the country give little recog nition to students without bachelor's degrees. While the course for college graduates was legalized in 1897 very few have availed themselves of it. Very few college graduates go back and make preparation for elementary teaching after graduation from college. Most of those who wish to teach in elementary schools attend the normal schools at first. Many finish in college after preparation in a normal school for elementary teaching. Considerable numbers teach for a time before finishing in college.

TABLE 42.-Bellingham State Normal School, annual enrollment, 1889-1934

TABLE 43.-Diplomas and certificates issued, 1900-17, Bellingham State Normal School

TABLE 44.-Diplomas and certificates issued, 1917–34, Bellingham State Normal School

* In 1933-34 there were 41 granted the degree of A. B. in education under the new law of 1933.

TABLE 45.-Biennial appropriations, 1895-1933, Bellingham State Normal

School $1

Statistics for tables 42, 43, 44 furnished by Pres. C. H. Fisher in personal correspondence.

IV. THE CENTRALIA NORMAL SCHOOL

On March 18, 1919, a law was passed establishing the "State normal school at Centralia." The commission to select the site consisted of the Governor and two citizens appointed by him. It was required that the school should be in Centralia or "within 1 mile of the corporate limits of the city of Centralia.” 32

Governor Hart appointed a board of trustees, consisting of Harry L. Bras, Centralia, E. A. Rice, Chehalis, and F. E. Hazeltine of South Bend. The site for the school was chosen by the commission. City Superintendent Alexander C. Roberts of Everett was elected presi dent in 1920. Plans were developed for opening the school on a permanent basis. A summer session was held under his direction as the opening term of the normal school. With him on the faculty was Paul J. Orr, superintendent of schools in Auburn, now professor of education in Linfield College, McMinnville, Oreg., who was chosen as a permanent faculty member. This first term proved to be the last because of lack of funds. There was no money to continue in the fall term. Both houses of the legislature in the winter of 1921 voted $238,600 for maintenance during the biennium of 1921-23. Governor Hart vetoed an item of $205,000, leaving only $33,600 in the capital outlays fund. This left nothing for operation of the school, but a tract of 33 acres was purchased, making a total of 56 acres in the campus, which already had one old academy building when the first part of the site was purchased.33

Subsequent legislatures have failed to provide for opening the school. A bill was introduced in 1931 to disestablish the school. It passed the house on February 9 with no dissenting votes but was never acted on by the senate.3

34

A board of trustees has been maintained through most of the intervening years. Thus the school exists, but in somnolence.

Pres. A. C. Roberts.-When the Centralia Normal School failed to materialize President Roberts went to the University of Washington in 1921 to teach part time and to complete his work for the Ph.D. degree in education, which he received in 1922. He was then appointed as professor of education and director of extension in the university. In 1927 he was elected president of the State Teachers College, San Francisco, Calif., which position he now occupies.

31 Laws of Washington, 1919, ch. 147. p. 410.

33 Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1922, p. 331.

34 House Journal, 1931, p. 173.