Part: 123456789         Session: 1         Page na123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183184185186187188189190191 of 191

providing for the fingerprinting of all Federal employees.

This, of course, irritated me very much, because I know all about the racket of the fingerprinting school. You know, fingerprints don't do much of anything, really, except make work for the manufacturers of fingerprint materials and for the experts in fingerprinting, and it's a very profitable business. This idea of fingerprinting everybody in the United States has been going around the country for thirty odd years, and I've always been opposed to the fingerprinting of averybody in the United States, in the first place because it doesn't do any good. I remember a debate I had with the President once in Cabinet meeting. How it happened to come up then, I don't know, but something was said about the fingerprinting of all persons, you know. It must be done, we must have a fingerprint of everybody in the United States and know just who they were and where they were, and you must be required to sign with your thumb every time you did anything or withdrew anything or gave in anything. A frightful idea, I think. From childhood, you-see, the fingerprint was to be everywhere--on any paper that you had anything to do with.

Well, I had fought, bled and died to keep the information given to us in the Social Security papers secret and private, for good and sufficient reasons--protecting people