Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-14
TAFT F|NGERPR|NT
KEPT BY D. C. MAN
If He Should Become Lost
c. c. Bennett Could
Identify Him.

The one man in the world who could
identify William Howard Taft beyond
peradventure of doubt resides in the
environs of Washington.
1t is, of course, difficult to imagine it
ever becoming necessary to identify
the former President and chief justice.
He is known in every town and village
In the land; his career and his per-
sonality are familiar to all cultured
peoples. BY every token, not the least
being the individuality of his physical
proportions, 1t would be extremely diff
cult not to place him.
The man who could identify him be-
yond any question, however, and the
only man who could so identify him if
the efficacy of the system is admitted,
is c. G. Bennett. civilian employee of
the War Department, who lives in
Rosemont Park, Alexandria. In Mr..
Benefits possession is a record that
gives to Mr.. Taft himself minor dis
tinction.
Not only is Mr.. Taft the only Ameri-
can ever to serve as President and
chief justice; he is the only American
to attain to either Office who permitted
his f1ngerprints to be taken. 1t seems
inevitable that the Taft fingerprints
should become part of the recorded
history of the Nation. Mr.. Bennett
obtained the prints in 1922 under cir
cumstances that revealed Mr.. Tafts
broad sympathieS and the breadth and
subtlety of his humor as well.
Since 1904, the year the excursion
steamer General Slocum burned in New
York harbor with loss of more than
thousand lives, Mr.. Bennett has been
interested in f1ngerprints as a means
OF preserving the identity of persons
most effectively. He transferred to the
identification section of the War De-
partment Is years ago the better to
study in that field. Through mutual
acqualntances he arranged an inter-
subsequently called at the home of the
chief justice at 2241 Wyoming avenue.
Fingerprints as means of identifi-
cation interested Mr.. Taft, and he
listened at length while Mr.. Bennett
expressed the hope that some day the
nngerprints of infants would be filed
away with their birth certificates as
permanent records of identification.
Inc Chief Justice graciously permitted
MI. bennett to obtain a record of his
own nngerprintS. When he had
pressed his ink-stained fingers on the
FORM Mr.. Bennett provided, he oblig-
oSAOoo tIlC UOD, w m, III,
TAFT. May 18th, 1922"
The next day Mr.. Bennett wrote To
Mr.. Taft, thanking him for his courtesy
IN receiving him. Having given no
thought to a reply, he was pleasurably
surprised when he received a note from
the Chief Justice several days later un-
der date of May Is.
One can picture the rotund MIR. Taft
chuckling to himself as he reaches for
a sheet of the stationary of the Supreme
Court OF the United States and indites
this message:
My Dear Mr.. Bennett:
Il am glad to know that YOU have
a means of identifying me If I am lost
IN any way and cannot be otherwise
identified. Sincerely yours,
''WM. H. TAFT"
To Mr.. Bennett the Taft fingerprints
are an interesting memento. Several
months after they were obtained he had
arranged a lecture on the subject of
identification and prepared lantern
slides illustrating his thesis. Mr.. Taft
gave him permission to use his finger
prints in that connection. and in Mr..
Bennetts lectures now the view of the
4att ringers Is feature.