Then, with his attested finger-print on the face of the draft, the stranger in the city may go to the city bank, appearing at the window of the newest teller, if need be.  This teller will have at hand his inked pad, faced with a sheet of smooth tin.  He never may have seen the customer before.  He never may see him again.  But under the magnifying influences of an ordinary reading glass he may know past the possibility of doubt that in the hands of the proper person named in the draft the imprint which is made before him has been made by the first purchaser of the draft.

In the more important and complicated transactions in bank paper one bank may forward from the bank itself the finger-print proofs of identity.  The whole field of such necessities is open to adapted uses of the method.  Notes given by one bank to another in high figures may be protected in every way by these imprints.  Stock issues and institution bonds would be worthy of the thumb-print precautions, as would be every other form of paper which might tempt either the forger or the counterfeiter.  In any case where the authenticity of the paper might be questioned, the finger-print would serve as absolute guarantee.  In stenographic correspondence, where there might be inducements to write unauthorized letters on the part of some person with wrong intent, the imprint of finger or thumb would make the possibility of fraud too remote for fears.  For, in addition to the security of signatures in real documents, the danger in attempting frauds of this kind is increased.

As to the physical necessaries in registering fingerprints, they are simple and inexpensive.  A block of wood faced with smooth tin or zinc the size of an octavo volume, a small ink roller, and a tube of black ink are all that are required.  For removing the ink on thumb or finger a towel and alcohol cleanser are sufficient.  A tip impression or a “rolled” finger signature may be used.  Only a few seconds are required for the operation.

In giving big checks merchants and bankers would be protected by the thumb-print system.  A merchant could place the print of his right index finger to the left of his signature on a check.  The bank would have a print, together with the merchant’s signature on file.  Only a few seconds would be necessary to convince the paying teller as to its genuineness.  The merchant, also, if necessary, could place a light print of the index finger over the amount of the check where written in figures.  Any attempt to erase the figures would destroy the finger-print.  If the figures were raised, the one doing so would be unable to place a finger-print in the same space that would correspond with the one at the bottom of the check beside the signature, and the raising of the check would immediately be discovered in the bank where the check was presented.