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Show MUCH TO BE SAID "ADVOCACY- CrF FINGER-PRINTING To be fingerprinted no longer means that one has a police record. Fingerprinting is the latest fad In the higher circUs of society, according accord-ing to the United States News. People Peo-ple who have never been accused of any offense more serious than a violation viola-tion of a traffic ordinance are pressing press-ing their palms to ink pads and recording re-cording the little whorls and lines on their fingertips. Men, women and children are filing their fingerprints, as well as their fingernails. It is more than just a fad. Interest in finger records promises to be permanent. per-manent. The reason Is not hard to find. Every few days appears some news item about a long-lost brother or sister sis-ter who has been located after years of futile search, or who, after being given up as lost, has returned to claim a share in the last will and testament of a relative. It Is noticed no-ticed that these missing persons usually turn up at a time when an estate is being administered. And there Is frequently a question about their real Identity. Persons afflicted with amnesia or loss of memory are unable to learn who they are. This would be comparatively easy if their fingerprints were filed with the police. po-lice. "Doubles" are unable to prove who Is who. But the principal reason, probably, for this rage for fingerprinting is to be found in reports of persons kidnaped. kid-naped. Families dealing with kidnapers kid-napers can be sure of positive Identification. Identi-fication. It is not necessary that they have fingerprints on file at police stations sta-tions prior to being kidnaped. A home file would do. In most cases Identification could be established by other means. But handwriting can be imitated, and that of a child more easily than that of a grown person. There could be no doubt about a clear fingerprint record, although there might be uncertainty as to whether the one kidnaped was dead or alive. At any rate no one need be ashamed of having been fingerprinted unless he Is guilty of a crime. The best people are doing it St Louis Globe-Democrat. |