The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-13
THE ARISTOCRATIC METHOD

is latent in every human breast. II is an outgrowth of the ego, par of the instinct of self preservation In primitive societies it must have been a very valuable instinct, for then every man for his own protec- tion and that of his family would be thrown upon his, own resources, and the feeling of superiority in him, the impression of being more powerful than his neighbors, or stronger, or better in a fight, would be of great usefulness. But as society becomes organized and the function of mak- ing life and property secure devolves upon the organized body, it is socially important that the aristocratic feel ing should be replaced by the inn pulses and motives of democracy.
 The aristocratic motive. with it's dogma that the few are superior to the many, when 1t is embodied in government. is the propagator of secrecy in public affairs. And noth- ing is more hostile to democratic in- sritufions than secrecy. 1t is of the essence Tof popular government that it's affairs should be transacted in the open.
 For it has come to be recognized as q profound truth that while the cause of justice among men may oc- casionally be impeded by publicity, that justice will almost without ex- ception be impeded by secrecy.
 So the demand that is made upon the coroner for open hearings upon the wreck of the Federal Express rests upon the we'll founded experi- ence of mankind, gained while men struggled against the domination of aristocratic institutions with their principles of secrecy and their pro- found distrust of the people.
 T will investigate and I will in- vestigate in star chamber So says the coroner in the matter of the wreck which ccost IF 1aiaab1e lives and worked more or less permanent injury to some 50s other persons.
 Undoubtedly the coroner is not conscious of any except the best of motives. It would be strange, in- deed, if through the years that have elapsed since democracy replaced monarchial institutions in this coun- try an occasional mind, did not, by process of heredity, reflect the old way of looking at things.
 Undoubtedly Coroner Wilson is moved by the true aristocratic mo- ton. His view of it is that in him the people have found true and trusted servant. mind that is more competent than the minds of those who pay his salary.
 The people having chosen such a mind. it is the duty of the people to leave it ali to him.
 Perhaps also, he believes, as many little officials do, that inquiry in the open will defeat the end of justice.
 Your mind of aristocratic tend encies harks backward to the things that are old. The sequence of cause and effect is new. Tis only recently that men have begun to view things . through the medium of statistics, by the law of probability. Statistics of divorce. of mortality. of railroad wreck are of comparatively recent origin.
 It may we'll have escaped the at tention of the coroner that the evils that have crept into the American system of government all STOW out light. The bulwark of the lobby in Connecticut is darkness Lorimer is put over' in the gloom. The ar- ransements by which men are pro- noted in the state through the ma- chinations of monopoly are all in the twilight. The public always has much to lose through secrecy in its ser vants It almost never has anything to gain.
 Two recent examples of the disad- vantages of secrecy come from the coroner's own office. There was the case of the collision at Boards cor ner, between a trolley and party of Yale students with women. The cor oner did not ascertain or did not ex- plain, that the automobile party was homeward bound, after debauch. Yet it was evident that the condition of the driver under those circum- stances was of the utmost import
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 ances. Was there any reason why those facts should not have been as- certained by the coroner and dis- closed in his finding? Does the cor onsr know, or did he know, what ex- traordinary influences were brought to bear to make the pathway of the student driver of that unfortunate vehicle easy? Does he believe that those things were wholesome in an