Had this simple thumb print been used in the Stensland bank, no handwriting expert would have been needed to establish the genuineness of any note under question.
With the ink thumb print of the cashier of a bank placed on a bank draft over his signature and over the written amount of the draft, chemical papers and the dangers of "raising" or counterfeiting the draft would be an impossibility. The thumb prints of the secretary of the United States treasury, reproduced on the face of greenback, silver certificate and bank note of any series, would discourage counterfeiting as nothing else ever has done.
Safeguard on Seals of Letters and Money Packages.
As an aid in the transmission of sealed packages, the thumb print is invaluable. The print will determine absolutely whether the wax has been broken in transit, and it will also establish the identity of the person putting on the seal.
Packages so protected have been left by train robbers where all other packages in the safe were taken. The thumb print was too suggestive of danger to make tampering with such packages safe.
In the ordinary usage of the thumb print on bankable paper, the city bank having its country correspondents everywhere, often is called upon to cash a draft drawn by the country bank in favor of that bank's customer, who may be a stranger in the city. The city bank desires to accommodate the country correspondent as a first proposition.
The unidentified bearer of the draft in the city, may have no acquaintance able to identify him. If he presents the draft at the window of the big bank, hoping to satisfy the institution and is turned away, he feels hurt. By the thumb print method he might have his money in a moment.
Identifying Strangers.
In the first place, even the signature of the cashier of the country bank will be enough to satisfy its correspondent in the city of the genuineness of the draft. Before the country purchaser of the draft has left the bank issuing the paper he will be required to make the ink thumb print in a space for that purpose. Without this imprint the draft will have no value. If the system should be in use, the cashier signing the draft will not affix his signature to the paper until this imprint has been made in his presence.
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 ink 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.