868 THE CRIMINAL GROUP 



and legislators unwilling to authorize it. Some justification there is 

 for their mental attitude. It is found in the dearth of capable men 

 competent to administer the reformatory discipline to which the 

 indeterminate sentence is an adjunct, and in the probability that, 

 under the spoils system in American politics, they would not, if 

 found, be appointed. But we shall by degrees outgrow this phase 

 of our political history. The creation of an ideal standard of quali- 

 fication for headship of a reformatory prison will develop the class of 

 officials required to meet this new demand, and, with the more 

 general dissemination and acceptance of correct notions of social 

 organization and social duty, public opinion and sentiment will be 

 ripe for the reform which we advocate. We have not entered upon 

 the full possession of our inheritance, but we bequeath it with 

 confidence to posterity . 



