The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-03-11
RIGGS PUTS LIFE INTO
 MELLEN'S LITERARY BUREAU
Knows All the Public Men of the Country-True to His Friends
 And E'Live Wfrev
(Hartford Courant.) )

great change come over the publicit! policy of the N. Y, N. H. & H. rail road in the last month or so. Nc longer does the railroad sit as tho
 sphinx ,g1urn and silent to both praise
 and bIame-most1y blame. Now the
 attitude is, Come here, my friend i let's sit down and talk this thing over
 It happened this way:-''
 1 Such has been the atmosphere oi 1 President MeIIen's talks, Nos. I, II 1 III, etc. Such also, has been the ar- | rnosphere of the new bureau of pub l licity, of which Edward G. Riggs, fof thirty years connected with the New York Sum- is the head. As to Mr. Mel lens Talks, very likely he writes them himself. At any rate, the railroad'a 2 president saw that the road was get
 ting the worst of it, simply because of it's submissive and no comeback at titude. So he began to take the pub
 lie into his confidence. Very likely MT. MelIen has other things to do, and
 he wanted a good, live newspaper
 man to push his policy. That man is
 Edward G. Riggs, his title is execu-
 tive assistant, and his offices are in the Grand Central Terminal build
 ing, New York.
 Mr. Riggs had but a week before snapped to his roll top desk in the
 Sun office, fthe saddest thing I ev- CT did. after thirty years of service g he recently told the newspaper men of the state. But MT. Riggs didn't stay sad. long. It's not his nature to. He buck1ed into his new job (he's near 60, but you wouldn't suspect it) with the leg work and punch of q Corbett, and he has already hit the trail
 Ask the business manager of any newspaper printed in New England and you will find that Riggs is getting a paper. He proposes to know what T7n road, and his office is the clearing house for all news and editorials about the system. But it is no mere clipping bureau. It sends out to news papers all over the East not only act nal news happenings over the railroad which it thinks may influence public. opinion and very likely comments thereon.
 Riggs has been closely associated with this state from his earliest days. His mother who, before her marriage was Miss Mary Gridley, was born in ForestviIIe and early in the ffties itor of the old "Courfer1Enquirer, which was merged into the New York World" when Manto1 Marble, the adviser of Horatio Seymour, Samuel J. Ti1den and democrats of that type, became the head of that newspaper.
  tor for the tSun.'' but retired twenty years ago.
 Edward G. Riggs in 1878 married Miss Elizabeth S. Brown, daughter of George w. Brown of Forestvi1Ie, thus strengthening his Connecticut ties For nearly generation MT. Brown was New York manager for the Bristol Brass & Clock Company MT. Riggs only living son, Royal B. T. Riggs was also born at the old Brown homestead in ForestviIle. He is a | graduate of Williams and a member of the New York bar. Edward G. I Riggs spent many of his boyhood va teal writer for the ''Sun'' visited this | state frequently.
 Tn his long career in New York Journalism, MT. Riggs has been chief | y a political writer. In speaking of | him Colonel O. O. Stealey, for forty 1 he Louisville Courier Journal.' in his work, "13o Pen Pictures of Live Men," published in 1910. said:
 And now, the author desires to in Lraduce to you the dean of all the po- itica1 writers of the United States, Sum-, for twenty-five years the po1iti- gal correspondent of The Sum- at endant upon all national conventions, md principal state conventions. MT. Riggs has an acquaintance among public men of America and a knowl- sdge of state and national politics to De envied. He has been the con idant of presidents, counselor of po- itical campaign managers, and the valued friend of men in high places. The expression should not be used in he past tense, for he is all those hings still, and actively in the har- less.
 0Tp dicposi+iop ha is odr,ira I1x, 1 to make and hold acquain- ances of lasting character. Public nen love him for his personal qua1i-i ies and esteem him for his ability.l Ie is a charming companion. a hrewd observer, good judge of men, nd so thoroughly in touch with the Jig affairs of the nation and the world as to make his opinion not only but valuable.
 tOne who knows him would say hat the dominating characteristic of is nature, and which has sounded oud and clear through his newspaper areer as a major chord, is passion te scorn and hatred for all that is mean, low and false. He was reared 1 n journalism under Charles A. Dana, nd his influence served to develop he inherent characteristic of high ainded devotion to a high standard ! f ethics, personal and professional.
 LIS SIJ OA W4AIAA4S IS pOIAA Ae1SAiCI nd fluent, marked with constant ashes of humor. He is very hu- 1an being, and understands his hu- nan brother, while he loves him. He ates a sneak and a coward almost S much as he does liar.
 ttHe numbered among his closest riends such men as Governor Ros- 1en P. Flower, William c. Whitney, 1 honas c. Platt, David B. Hill, Mat s hew s. Quay, Benjamin Harrison, H. [. Rogers, Mark Hanna, William Me Sinley and Grover Cleveland. He njoys the esteem of such men as Will am J. Bryan, Theodore Roosevelt and I William H. Taft. He nows personally every big man in t he United States Senate and House f Representatives well enough to tick his knees under their mahogany,