Evening star., 1922-10-23
Might Transform Citizenry Into
Nation of Suspects.

General condemnation for the sug-
gestion Of the New York Chamber Of
Commerce that everybody be finger
printed In order to make identifca-
ton certain when necessary has
aroused a storm of intensely bitter
criticism from editors of every shade
OF belief. They argue that such a
plan would be to create q nation of
suspects and would be a step backward
into Russianism. Even the very few
editors who admit seeing slight merit
In the proposal insist that it would
create a new bureauracy not needed
in a republic and the cost would be
enormous.
NO one has yet succeeded in forg-
ing a finger print It Identifies with
far more certainty and accuracy than
q photograph or a signature. and all
finger prints fall into two classes"
the Brooklyn Eagle points out. land
these divide naturally into other
classes. SO that 1t Is not necessary to
look closely at more than a score OF
cards to identify the individual. But
receive the suggestion that he be
fnger-printed for the public good.
He would snort with disgust and ask
whether we were about to introduce
the methods Of the secret Russian
police. 1t will take a long time be-
fore 1t loses that stigma. Mean
while. those who realize its value
and would like to see it generally
used can best advance their cause by
making haste slowly" Amplifying
the suggestion Of the above writer.
the socialistic New York Call in
s!sts that "our ruling classes have
acquired such an affection for these
days that the chamber OF commerce
of New York offers suggestion that
goes beyond anything ever offered by
the cars police or the owners Of
slaves 1t would transform the whole
population into a nation Of suspects
carry an Identification card with his
or her finger prints for inspection Of
the police on demand! This would
carry into government d policy that
Is now a policy OF many great in
dustries. Thousands Of workers are
tagged with a brass check. If the
New York Chamber Of Commerce de-
liberately tried to advertise itself
as a collection of morons. medieval
reactionaries and Intellectual cow
ards. 1t could not have done better
.haH III ihdhihS IHe recommendation
IT has"
From the Philadelphia Public
Ledger. comes the suggestion. why
not simply the whole business?
Why not require every male and
lar, engraved with the name and a
serial number and bearing yearly
license tag? Why not have on file
the toeprints in addition to the rec
ords of our Binot-Simon tests, our
answers to Tom Edison's question:
and our Bertillion Measurements?
Then we all could report every nth
day to some uper-bureaucracy.
Let's mako one bite Of it." The plan
might be used to prevent repeating
at the polls" the Jersey City Journal
says. and. "at first sight, finger
printing voters seems to have many
advantages. But from whence is to
come the army of experts qualified
to pass on these fingerprints? There
would have to be one stationed in
practically, every voting precinct in
national finger-printing strikes a
snag: in it's other aspects looms as q
daring contribution to the national
welfare" Characterizing the sug-
gestion as "reviving the brass col
lar" the Boston na9,u Globe recalls .sl. that hat
were four years ago fighting a war
expressly to prevent having this
Prussian system Of card indexing and
secret police and finger prints and
Identification cards fastened on US.
The danger Of having 1t fastened on
US from the outside was probably.
like Mark Twain's death. greatly ex-
aggerated. But the disposition to
fasten it on US from an inside source
| seems to be more vigorous than we
suspect"
Suggestions by the committee that
mo valid reason can be found Why
any honest man can object to the
plan" brings from the Youngstown
Vindicator the declaration that.
| valid or not, every honest man Is
likely to object, believing that his
honesty and good citizenship shoulo
! be told in the record Of his life ana
I transactions, upon which finger-print
! checks should not be required or IN
terfere with his pursuit Of happiness
and honest dollars. There 10 enough
| old-fashioned individualism to star.
something of a protest II this latest
suggestion is seriously considered..,,..
There may be. however, advantages
| in such a system, as the New BEDFORD
| Standard points out. especially e
l "objection to finger printing on ene