U.S. Congress banned typewriters?

[snopes]

Comment: Did the US Congress ban typewriters?

As I heard it from my professor the government was afraid that typewriters
would allow correspondence to be anonymous. Out of that fear the US
Congress passed a ban on the use of typewriters for government documents.
The ban was reversed 10 years later.

After searching this site and a variety of other common internet sources I
could find no confirmation of my professor's claim. This little piece of
typewriter history seems too fascinating to be simply undocumented.

[Judecat]

It might not have been a ban, it might have just been that the government was 10 years behind in technology. Or they didn't want to spend the money on the newfangled gadgets.

[diddy]

Originally Posted by snopes

As I heard it from my professor the government was afraid that typewriters would allow correspondence to be anonymous.

And handwritten correspondence that are left unsigned are not?

[snopes]

Originally Posted by diddy

And handwritten correspondence that are left unsigned are not?

Here's a hint: You can compare handwriting samples to determine the writer of a piece of unsigned correspondence. That technique didn't work nearly as well with typewriters back in those days.

- snopes

[Joostik]

Doesn't that sort-of imply that hand-written official correspondence necessarily would have been written by the signees own hand -- and not by some anonymous clerk?

[TB Tabby]

They could still track down the clerk. And suppose that clerk doesn't keep quiet?