Part: 123456789         Session: 1         Page na123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183184185186187188189190191 of 191

had lived. And if he doesn't want his family to know that he's dead or that he's buried or that something's happened to him, what difference does that make?”

“What?” They all looked at me as if I were crazy, and I said, “Well, his Maker knows who he is and where he is. He knows who he is and where he is, who else needs to know?”

“Well,” said the President, “you've got something there,” and he laughed. “His maker knows where he is, and that's all that's necessary when the final trump sounds.”

At any rate, it's a kind of silly sentimentality about this business of having to spot and identify every person who dies accidentally or by his own hand, orin a lodging house without any known friends. It's not necessary.

Now, is this included in Truman's fingerprinting plan?

Oh, yes. Everybody in the Federal Government. Everybody must be fingerprinted. I felt that was very disastrous.

Anyhow, we proceeded on that basis. Then it went on to: everybody must be re-investigated.

Oh yes, I was fingerorinted. Everybody was fingerprinted. And everybody must be investigated. Well, of course, investigation was a terrific lot of work for people who'd been working for the Government forty years, you know, and were known as just plain simple old Jame. I mean, it was just