Evening star., 1921-06-29
SEES FINGER PRINTS
AS SAFETY DEVICE
H. C. Gauss Suggests Adop-
ton of Method by Honest
People for SeIf-Protection.

That the day will come when honest
people will have their finger prints taken
! for their own protection and establish
mont Of identity the same as police de-
partments now take finger prints OF
crooks, is the belief OF H. c. Gauss or
this city.
Heretofore finger prints have been
employed largely in relation 70 criminals
and criminal classes, and the pubic
generally, therefore. has been pre)uolceo
against dactylology as general means
of identification.
| Mr.. Gauss pointed to the government.
collection of 100000 prints. as outilneo
in an article in The Sunday Star recehtiy'
as highly interesting on account oi @'o
future science of finger prints.
Comparatively Small in Number.
The classification by which finger
prints up to the present time nave oeen
filed and searched is responsive 70 CO.,
lection Of comparatively small NUMBERS
decla red Mr. Gauss
Five millions is hardly small num-
Der, and yet, when considered IN reiatlol
to a nationwide or world-wioe Hhses
print collection, is negligible, ne con,
tinued. The engineer has suocla ass'aeu . no,
the classes now employed without IN any
way disturbing those classincatlons' II 10
declared. ..,
Mr.. Gauss has arranged a system
which will employ the wen knoH,
punching machines now SO cotnios ,,y
used in numerous government bureaus
and industries, and the related Sote-
ing machines, which sort the cards SO
punched The punching OF caros, 10
indicate Mr.. Gauss SubclaSslncaIoh'
makes it possible to run these punch-
ed cards through the sorting machines
and to- eliminate the present mana
search and substitute therefor
purely mechanical segregation. Those
familiar with punching machines
know that the cards may be puncneo
with considerable speed, While tne
sorting machines operate automatical-
ly and are capable of handling very
large number Of cards per minute.
Accuracy Of Subclassi6cattonA.
The ADMINISTRATIONS. Mr.. Gauss
declares. are such that the permuta.
tions run into figures wholly beyond
human comprehension. They are
such that billions of finger prints
may be classified and automatically
sorted by machines, SO that all the
people in the world or all the people
who will be in the world for million
years to come, may be classified by
their finger prints and sorted by
machines with absolute accuracy.
Mr.. Gauss his ..oc attempted to dis
card the press - .l-= =sification. so
that every finger pr!T.t collection now
| in use will be available for extension
and subclassifying and machines for
handling punching and sorting are
such as are now we'll known and will
be used without modification Of any
kind.
Discussing his system. Mr.. Gauss
! said:
"It vUon,d seeno that as soon a. the
wonderful results arising from such
records become apparent to the pub
| lie the public would itself volun-
| tarily demand and adopt this means
Of positive identification: but it Is
| known, of course, that the public. as
such, is slow to act even in matters
, which are of great general benefit.
| and it may be necessary to enact laws
relative to such records whereby
every person may be positively iden-
titled. whether dead or alive and
wherever found, and that with abso-
lutte accuracy and quickly.
Gives an Illustration.
1T a person who meets with vio-
lent death, say, in New York city.
can be identified in few minutes as
being John Doe Of San Francisco. the
results will be Of very great interest
and probable comfort and advantage
to the friends or heirs of the de-
sand and more ways In which such
a system would prove Of ineStimable
value to the country.
This is especially interesting when
it is further understood that the sys-
TEN can be employed to identify. with
reasonable certainty. even upon a tele-
graphic statement of the claSSifica-
tions as found in the prints Of the
fingers, to be, when necessary. later
verified beyond possibility of a doubt
by the comparison Of the prints them
selves, disclosed and located by the
machine working upon such classi-
ficauon.
Many Unidentified Bodies.
Every days public print discloses
the finding of some body which re-
mains unidentified, or which is only
partially identified. With such a sys-
TEN in vogue there would no longer
be any unidentified bodies. No mat
ter where or when a body was found.
it's positive Identification would be but
a matter Of a very short time. and
that whether the person in life had
been a resident Of the locality where
found or some remote part Of the
country.
The possibilities Of good in such a
system. as well as the possibilities
from the point Of view Of law and
order, can hardly be appreciated. With
such accuracy available, it would seem
but a matter Of short time before
means would be found Of taking ad-
fishing central bureau which would
perform the functions. a few Of which
have been indicated, and thousands Of
otherS for the general good"