The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-03-31

Northwest Ee Ena stiIi .,Ht .sse5 chieGS aiti. ,ne dctuaj opcratio: of a
 railroad He converted a poorly bufIt railroad into one of the best construct ed systems in this country and saw its net earnings almost doubled. No
 body ever fooled him. Tn 1903 the d.
 rectors Of the New Haven elected him president of the road, and 1t was thea that the former New England railroad clerk returned to his native heath to solve the difficult transportation prob lem which its very peculiar geography and other conditions presented, a problem which has required all the knowledge accumulated in those early years of practical operating work, and in addition, that wonderful faculty for carrying through large financial mat ters which has distinguished his later years. With the same remarkable as- sidufty which characterized his work in the railroad office at Concord MT MeIlen has gone at this task that has meant so much for New EngIand-tbs job of giving New England a unified transportation system-putting into ls even more energy than he had applied in the Northwest. What he has ac- compIished is known only too well It could have been dOnB only by man who had the railroad business from the bottom up at his finger tips and was at the saE3e cine 2 master os finance.
 And yet this product of e small EerY England town. ehis man who has knit great railroad system of many diff ferent elements together, who has made electriication fact and not Q fancy, has all the while been able to see tke fun in life. He is a fine public speak CT. He is also wit There have been few occasions when public meetings at which he has appeared have not been illuminated with his witty sal lies, revealing a side to his nature of which many are ignorant
 Once he faced crowd of angry com muters at public service commission hearing in New York. They had come to bait him, believing him to be an ogre. To their evident surprfae, they found confronting them the most gen ial of men, whose jokes and pleas antries completely dfsarmed them. TO his plea not to strip his railroad bare they had retorted that when 1t came to the stripping process commuters didn't have anything like the opportunity tl1s railroad had.
 "And that's the reason I keep my hair short" quickly came President Mel1en's response, and one look at his head convuIsed those same eommuters- It was the same when the man wl1o faced, them so pleasantly renarked tn similar good humor that 2here were always some people travelling on a railroad who expected to ride free "and have a chromo thrown fn-'' The spirit of the gathering instantly was chang ed by Mfr MelIen's nfmbIe wit They went away his friends. Before legis- Iative bodies or in the eongeniaI prf- vacy of his New Haven club he has evidenced this same faculty for seeing the fun in things He is also fun Of sentiment, particularly in conneet1on
 with things relating to New England He is book lover whose chief hobby is his library. He Is also a musician
 He studied music when a boy and has
 never lost his love for it-
 | Notwithstanding an impression to
 the contrary, he is the most Democrat i ic and entertaining of men, with a great sense of justice. His resogni- 1 lion of old friends in Concord is a by word, and to this day many fn that New England town recall how when
 diphtheria visited the Mellen home and one after another of the family ! was SCr1cKen, lucluOluS tue ulCA1SAr the man who is now the head of New lEngland's transportation system turn led to and did the nursing for them all- Such is the man who from that early l5ob in Concord has risen 10 the top of the Transportation business, a good ItaIker, a delightful host and entertain Ter whose hospitality at StOckbFidge is famous, a favorate at all reunions, whether 1t be his associates of today Tor the fellow employees of his youth keen philosopher, but railroad mar above all and of almost unique type