The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-31
AS JOHN BOYLE, IS.

"M/HArrss'4 , ysss a Ssn York.
few moments later the
check was cashed
Sounds strange, but In . few years, Just
how many depends upon the people them
selves this and many other things will be
commonplace and humanity will be enjoying
one Of In greatest blessings.
Universal identincation VIII bring about
xhis Transformation. Born Of the results of
Sutrns. n promises to be crimes worst foe
md bring IN end to mystery and doubt.
T1ngvrpr1nts. now closely associated with
uF4n,s. can b made the means OF destroying
NJ md Il present day troubles. That system
q tdsnf1ncation 10 inrailible and when It is
universally adopted mysteries will become
. thing Of the past No longer will woman
Dc able to abandon her baby without detec-
ton; no longer will there be unidentified
persons buried in Potter's Field; no longer
claimed and no longer will there be difficulty
in getting check cashed-if it's good.
New York's chief exponent of universal
Identification is Joseph A. Faurot, Third
Deputy Police Commissioner, the man who
started the fingerprint system in the New
York Police Department fourteen years ago.
Just now" he said, Everybody is prejudiced.
When fngerprints are mentioned ones mind
jumps at once to crime. While this system
of Identification was developed through
criminal Investigations It can be made the
means of bringing to the world one Of its
greatest blessings"
Identifies alton on a Universal Scale
Individual Identity on a universal scale
will be development of the near future,
and it can be brought about in the most
simple manner possible despite the fact that
Americas population is made up of perhaps
the most restless people on earth
Ffngerprints have solved many mystic
ries. have brought many criminals to jus
tice and have been the means Of saving
many persons suspected of crime. Only a
few days ago II cleared up the mystery sur
rounding the suicide of an aged man in
Brooklyn rooming house. The man was
known as Charles Raymond One
morning he was found dead in his room
after inhaling gas The police were called
and the Bureau of Identification notified.
Fingerprnts were taken, and through the
Bureau of Criminal Investigation the man
was identified as Harry Gilmore, a man
who for many years had led a Je1yll and
Hyde existence and had spent many years
in penitentiaries
II was a simple matter to complete this
Identification. The classification Of the
fngerprnts led direct to the file number of
Harry Gilmore. It couldn't go elsewhere
This case suggested one of a young wom-
an who died recently whose identity could
not be established. for the reason that until
now the fngerprint system has been de-
voted almost exclusively to the, detection
OF crime. With universal Identification
there would be an end to burials of "un-
known" persons.
The difficulties Of making records of the
nngerprints of a great nations population
would appear to be insurmountable. AS a
matter OF fact It would be an easy task.
And this Is how Commissioner Faurot says
it can be done:
No Difficulty in Fingerprinting.
There should be no difficulty In getting
hngerprints Of all the children In the
schools of the United States. No skill is
needed In making an impression of the
hand; it's a simple matter. Thus in the
school chldrens flngerprints we would
have basis. We would have the finger
prints OF all our future citizens, save those
who came to us by immigration. To get
them would be es simple-to hngerprint
each one upon his entry to this country
would be the work of q few seconds only.
II would scarcely add appreciably to the
work of registration which Is already re-
quired. That would provide for scnool chill
dren and immigrants. The fngerprints of
all the little immigrants who came by the
stork line could be as easily recorded. 1t
could be made the duty OF the doctor or
the nurse attending Mt birth TO register
ne whorls,' loops &C. of both mothers
and their new born infants. Some sort of
blank must be filed out when n child is
born, at present, In probably every thickly
settled portion of the nation, in connection
with the record OF the vital statistics of the
nation, State, county township OF city. To
add the ingerprints OF child and mother
to such blanks would be vary little addi-
tional trouble
'-The lines upon the nngertips OF human
beings DO not change In their design or
number or relationship in life. Their meas
ursments will change with growth, but
otherwise they never changsL And they are
singularly individual. The mothers finger
prints and those Of her child are certain 20
De as different as any other two. There Is