The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-26
FINGER PRINTS AS USED IN THE NAVY Prevent the Re-enllStment of
 DeSerting Sailors 34,000 RECORDS IN 1908 How the Experts Arrange and Class fly the Records by an EIab-
 crate Card Index
 System.
34,o00 RECORDS IN 1908
From the Century.

From the Century.
 The use of the system Ginger prints)
 was introduced in the United States navy
 in 19J1; but not for criminal purposes.
 Il is here employed not primarily to catch
 deserters, but to detect and prevent their
 re-enlistment. It insures the seamen of
 the navy that the standard shah not be
 lowered, and that they shall not be called
 on to associate with those who have not
 proved true"
 The navy wants reliable men for it's
 vessels, and it gets them The mep who
 man its vessels the finest ip the
 world, principally because 1t pays them
 better, feeds them better, treats them
 better otherwise, and offers greater chance
 of advancement than any other naval
 service, and also exercises more care hi
 their selection. Of about S2,0O0 applicants
 for the fiscal pear 1907S 56,O0O were re-
 jeeted. After appointment, of those ae-
 cepted some 4,000 declined, leaving 22,oOo
 men to enter the service.
 In 1908 the bureau of navigation,
 charged with the enlistment of crews
 of our naval vessels. recorded the finger
 prints of 34,OO0 men with virtually the
 same equipment that David Wilson used
 for recording the finger prints of Roxy's
 child and her charge. The equipment
 used consists of piece of glass, bottle
 of printers ink and a roller to spread the
 ink on the glass, which Is used over ana
 over by transferring the ink from the
 glass to "card records by rolling on the
 linked glass the finger and thumb Of each
 hand and rolling them again on these
 card records The finger is rolled to ob-
 tain what is technically known as an "ex-
 handed" record. After the expanded rec
 ord is obtained what S known as
 flat impression is taken as check 10
 prevent error. This flat impression is
 imprinted at the prescribed place at the , bottom of the card for comparison with the expanded records on another part or the sheet.
 No great amount of skill Is required to take the impressions, but an examination of a few cards will inspire respect for the experts who have to classify and identify what appears to the uninltiated a bewldering mass of cobwebs. The time of two experts, one woman, IS given to this work. If care has been eX- ercised in taking the impression, the card can be identified in one minutes time, but poor impressions may take as long as five minutes. These experts can tell with positive assurance whether a man applying for enlistment either has en- listed or has been on the navys nsts since the system was started; for, since the institution of the system, records ] have been taken of all men on the nsts' It does not matter what a man says his name is or what his real name may be, he may have a dozen aliases, but he has | only one name to the navy, and that IS | the name he said was his at the time or | enlistment. His name as given at that | time and his signature go on his finger l print card This will be his name for 1 ever as far as the navy is concerned. The first glance at finger-print impress | sions, which Mark Twain likened to the | curved lines marking the oceans on the I borders of maps, Is apt to provoke the remark, 'They all look alike to me" A little study and one will find such diff ferences that he will wonder at the possi- bility of any sort of classification. It IS not within the province of this article to attempt a study of the system. It Is in- teresting to know, however, that the ex- perts at the navy department use only three grand classifications, known as arches, loops and whorls. A crude defini- ton of each is: Arches, lines running from one side of the finger to the other; loops, lines making backward turns, but no twist; and whorls, lines forming more or less of a spiral. The direction of the lines, the distances apart of the functions, and other minute considerations, give cer- tain numerical values to the impressions These values for different fingers. when added together. give other values. The classification enables the "searcher," as the expert is called, readily to find the drawer In which the card will be found, and the "values' enable him to turn at once to the card.
 Of the ability of the system to estab- fish identity with exact certainty, com-
 mittee appointed by the secretary of state for the home department of Great Brit ain. in reporting on the system, stated: The finger prints of one finger, if clearly
 taken, are enough to decide the question of identity or non-identity, and if the prints of three or more fingers be taken and compared all possibility of error is absolutely eliminated. It seems impossible to insist too strongly on the absolute certainty of the criterion of iden- tity afforded by the finger prints.