Evening star., 1926-09-22

One of the remarkable records quietly
achieved in Uncle Sans service
stands to the credit of j. Edgar
Hoover, director of the Bureau of In
vestigation at the Department OF
Justice Perhaps his greatest single
achievement is the organization OF the
country's first national bureau of fin
gerprint Identification. Since Hoover
took office in May, 1924, no fewer
than 100000 individual fingerprlnt
records from the four quarters of the
Union have been assembled and IN
dexed in his bureau. 1t represents
the first concerted effort to "tie in"
the activities of local and State police
forces throughout the United States
with Federal criminal procedure
Nowadays about 700 new fingerprints
reach the Department of Justice daily.
Hoover regards the Bertillon system
as far and away the most effective
system of criminal Identification eX-
tant. One Of the interesting dis
coveries he has made is that about 29
felonies turn out to have criminal
records.
Judged by the size of the Bureau of
Investigations personnel in that par
lawless section of the country. Hoover
maintains a bigger staff of sleuths in
Oklahoma City than in even New
York or Chicago. One of these days
thereu be a thrilling story to tell OF
how his men, as the result of three
year campaign, have pretty well put
an end to the Usage Indian murders
so long rampant in the Southwestern
section. Killings among our richest
tribe of redskins, because of their
wealth in oil lands. for several years
took place on scale of which the rest
of the country had no conceptlon
How Hoover went to work two ana
half years ago to stamp out tnat
wholesale, systematic carnival or as
sassination among the Osages is
material worthy the creator of Sher-
lock Holmes. u. E." as the chief of
investigation is called by his buddies,
believes that keeping everlastingly
after a crook till he's handcuffed Is
the real secret of success in his line.
Relentless adherence to that prlnclple
has resulted in Uncle Sans bringing
to book an amazingly large numbef
of fugitives from Federal justlcer-in
some cases men who were living lives
of luxurious security abroad.
j. X X x
Mai. Gen. Charles p. Summerall,
just appointed chief of staff OF the
United States Army, is regarded by
his comrades of the military estab-
lishment as Americas all-around best
soldier. There was a spirited compe-
tition for the place. The President
and the Secretary of War had no
dearth of brilliant material to choose
from. But there'll be general agreS
ment that Summerall's selection is
supremely excellent. Pershing con-
sidered Summerall one of the real pill
lars of the American EXpeditionary
Force in France. Since the World
War, and especially during his in
cumbency of the I'd Corps command
in New York, Gen. Summerall has
specialized in cementing the relations
between the Army and the civilian
putNc. In the metropolis he rem
dered outstanding service in that d1-
rection. One of the primary duties
of a chief of staff is to effect cordial
cooperation between the Army and
Navy Summerall will not be found
wanting in the pursuance of that
ideal. He was not the candidate of
the Mitchell party for the blue rib
bon of the Army. Everybody remem-
DeFS COl. SuIllIlleIdl ueClliicu u re-
main a member of the Mitchell court
martial after some pyrotechnical
clashes with the belligerent airman.
X X X
Huston Thompson, battling men,
Der of the Federal Trade Commits
sion, leaves office on September 26
after serving eight successive years
on that body-the longest term any
man has ever survived there. He was
appointed by President Wilson during
the lash wear Of the NaEa Anaxt from
j.