Speech #930091835

(2) Repeal of Bertillon System of identification: By the Acts of March 17. 1894. and of April 28. 1904. Conjress provided for the Bertillon System of Identification at the various ports of entry. to prevent the unlawful entry of Chinese into the United States. This was a part of the section of the law titled the "Chinese Exclusion Laws." Websters New International Dictionary. second edition. unabridged. describes the Bertillon System as a system for the identification of persons by a physical description based upon anthropometric measurements. notes or markings. deformities. color. impression of thumb lines. and so forth. Websters Third New International Dictionary. unabridged. describes it as a system for the identification of persons by a physical description based upon anthropometric measurements. standardized photographs. notation and classification of markings. color. bodily anomalies. thumb print impressions. and other data that has been largely superseded by fingerprinting. In 1943. the other sections of the Chinese Exclusion Laws. of which this section providing for the use of the BertilIon System was a part. were repealedAct of December 17. 1943. 57 Stat. 600. However. this section was not included in the provisions of that repeal statute even though for some years prior thereto. no moneys had been appropriated to prevent entry of illegal aliens referred to this section. I feel I need say very little to support repeal of this last. obsolete section of the Chinese Exclusion Laws. The very memory of this discriminatory legislation based solely on race should be eliminated from our statute books. Mr.