There is no longer any debate about the Indeterminate Sentence. The principle is written upon the statutes of nearly every State of the Union, tho in a debilitated and illogical form in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Amos W. Butler, Secretary Board of Charities in Indiana, in an address delivered in one of the churches declared that we had brought very little understanding to bear upon our treatment of criminals until recent years. He compared our knowledge of smallpox, yellow fever and other diseases with crime and concluded that we made as many blunders in considering the offender as we formerly made in our attitude toward these mysterious and dreaded diseases. “Prisons are the visible signs of our failures. It is now within the power of man to abolish many diseases from the earth, and so with crime. Criminals are not sent to prison for punishment, as many seem to believe, but prisons exist for the confinement of prisoners for the safety of society and for the reform of the man or woman there. They should, if possible, be reformed and returned to society.” The speaker favored the indeterminate sentence. He said you would not send a diphtheria patient to the hospital for a definite time, say two or three weeks. Complications might appear and more time may be required to effect a cure. The same is true of criminals. They should be sent there until reformed, until fit to be returned. Indiana has an indeterminate sentence law and in the past twenty years 11,000 men and women have been released under that law. Seventy-five per cent. of them succeeded, or made good. Prisoners there have earned about $3,000,000 for themselves. The absolutely indeterminate sentence is not yet in vogue in any State. A criminal under such a sentence would be sent to prison as to a hospital to remain till cured of his malady. Perhaps, in some cases he would be subject to some detention as a deterrent to others contemplating entering upon a criminal career. Specialists would determine when he was ready to enter the community. We may at some time adopt such a system when there are enough men and women having the skill and training necessary to pass on the mental and moral characteristics of such patients. Perhaps the best form of sentence is by statutes which fix the time for any given offense. The time for arson, for instance, may be placed from two to twenty years. It is the function of the judge or jury to determine whether the accused is guilty. If found guilty, the defendant is placed in care of a judicious board of control who will release the criminal at such time as they may deem best for him and the community.