Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-23


of identification is a matter that is
being brought to the attention of
Congress through the Federal Finger
Print Association, representing the
five great identification bureaus of
| the War Department, the Navy,
| Marine Corps. Coast Guard and De
partment of Justice.
Because the taking of finger prints
always has been associated in the
public mind with the detection and
| listing of criminals. the Federal
Finger Print Association realizes it
must overcome a nationwide preju
| dice on this score, before it can obtain
| from Congress legislation to carry out
the project.
Formidable Task Ahead.
| Taking and recording the finger
prints of approximately 1880 600
children under years of age in the
United States would be a formidable
task, even divided as it would be
under the proposal, among the several
States and municipal governments. 1T
is the aim of the Federal association
to obtain such a law, so that the
finger print of every new born child
would be preserved as a precaution
for identification. Senator Copeland
of New York, Senator Walsh of Mas
sachusetts and others are interested
in the movement and are sponsoring
, it in Congress.
Hundreds of cases of mysterious
disappearance and kidnapped chill
dren are reported every few months
throughout the country and often
these cases are never cleared up.
With the increase in population the
Port of Missing Children is steadily
keeping pace. Daily stories of miss
ing children are common features in
every metropolitan newspaper and
the police blotters in every big city
are crowded with cases of young
children reported as lost, strayed or
stolen" and never found.
Different to Trace.
Families have spent months, even
years running down clues which prove
to be false" said c. c. Bennett, chair
man of the legislative committee in
charge of the proposed legislation.
I'm kidnapping cases, the lapse of
few years makes it almost impossible
TO recognize a child. If a baby is
stolen, even a few months makes it
difficult to identify child positively.
With the finger prints of the child on
record there could be no mistake"
There are considerably more than
2 1000, 900 school children in the United
States between the ages of and s
years and in the case of a great dis
aster. means of positive Identification
would be impossible in many cases.
The boards of education in every city
and town should have the prints of
all school children. solely for the pur
poses of identification, Mr.. Bennett
declared. Every child attending the
public and private schools must be
vaccinated and have birth certificates
recorded, so the Federal Finger Print
Association argues that the finger
prints of school children are equally
as essential.
Aid Wealthy Persons.
ut is not generally known that
many wealthy persons have their
children's finger prints taken and filed
away in safe deposit vaults. as a pre-
caution against kidnapping" Mr.. Ben
nett said These finger prints on
numerous occasions have served to
establish the falsity of claims when
INSCRIPTIONS persons have masquer-
AIDED as the lost children of million
aires after the lapse of years when
other means of identification have
failed.
have absolute means of Identifying
newborn infants, Mr.. Bennett pointed
out, though some take the footprints
of infants when born. AS result of
| lax methods In many hospitals,
mothers of infants born in maternity
and other hospitals cannot always be
sure that the child brought to their
bedside during the first few days is
always their own. Cases of infants
| being carelessly changed about at
hospitals. he explained, fill court
records of many cities.
VIII Give Demonstration.
Under the auspices of the Federal
| Fngerprint Association, practical
demonstrations in the method of TAX
| ing the prints of infants and young
| children are to be given at Sibley
| Hospital. Members of Congress. edu-
Gators and others interested in the
| movement are to be invited on sue
cessive Sundays when these dem
| onstrations are to be held. Motion
| pictures also will be taken for eXhi-
bition with the current events reels at
picture theaters throughout the
country as part of the educational
| campaign.
AT Sibley Hospital, for instance. the
footprints of every newborn child are
taken and recorded on a card bearing
it's name and that of the mother. To
guard even more fully against sub
| stitution, the fingerprints of the
mother are recorded on the same
cards. Then each child is tagged.
BY this method of identification, used
also at Columbia Hospital, it is virtu,
ally impossible for any mother TO
claim the wrong child.
Fingers Are Delicate.
The reason why the footprints Of
newborn infants are taken is because
their tiny, delicate fingers are incap.
able of furnishing a permanent print
When a child is months old, Mr.
Bennett explained. its fingerprints
can be taken and win be suitable for
accurate Identification throughout It's
lifetime
Identification of children through