The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1 | Page 8

of lectures before the Lowell Institute. During the winter of
1878-9 a movement was made by the Western grangers to bring about a
radical change in the patent laws. Mr. Coffin appeared before the
Committee of Congress and presented an address so convincing, that
the Committee ordered its publication. It has been frequently quoted
upon the floor of Congress and highly commended by the present
Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Lamar. Mr. Coffin also appeared before
the Committee on Labor, and made an argument on the "Forces of
Nature as Affecting Society," which won high encomiums from the
committee, and which was ordered to be printed. The honorary degree
of A. M. was conferred upon Mr. Coffin in 1870, by Amherst College.
He is a member of the New England Historical and Genealogical
Society, and he gave the address upon the one hundred and fiftieth
anniversary of the settlement of his native town. He is a resident of
Boston, and was a member of the Legislature for 1884, member of the
Committee on Education, and reported the bill for free textbooks. He
was also member of the Committee on Civil Service, and was active in
his efforts to secure the passage of the bill. He is a member of the

present Legislature, Chairman of the Committee on the Liquor Law,
and of the special committee for a Metropolitan Police for the city of
Boston. Mr. Coffin's pen is never idle. He is giving his present time to a
study of the late war, and is preparing a history of that mighty struggle
for the preservation of the government of the people.
* * * * *
[Illustration: John B. Clarke]

COLONEL JOHN B. CLARKE.
Editor and Proprietor of the Manchester [N.H.] Mirror.
Among the business enterprises in which the men of to-day seek
fortune and reputation, there is scarcely another which, when firmly
established upon a sound basis, sends its roots so deep and wide, and is
so certain to endure and prosper, bearing testimony to the ability of its
creators, as the family newspaper. Indeed, a daily or weekly paper
which has gained by legitimate methods an immense circulation and a
profitable advertising patronage is immortal. It may change owners and
names, and character even, but it never dies, and if, as is usually the
case, it owes its early reputation and success to one man, it not only
reflects him while he is associated with it, but pays a constant tribute to
his memory after he has passed away.
But, while the rewards of eminent success in the newspaper profession
are great and substantial, the road to them is one which only the strong,
sagacious, and active can travel, and this is especially true when he
who strives for them assumes the duties of both publisher and editor. It
requires great ability to make a great paper every day, and even greater
to sell it extensively and profitably, and to do both is not a possible task
for the weak. To do both in an inland city, where the competition of
metropolitan journals must be met and discounted, without any of their
advantages, requires a man of grip, grit and genius.
In 1852 the Manchester MIRROR was one of the smallest and weakest

papers in the country. Its weekly edition had a circulation of about six
hundred, that of its daily was less than five hundred, and its advertising
receipts were extremely small. Altogether, it was a load which its
owner could not carry, and the whole establishment, including
subscription lists, good will, press, type and material, was sold at
auction for less than a thousand dollars.
In 1885 the WEEKLY MIRROR AND FARMER has a circulation of
more than twenty-three thousand and every subscriber on its books has
paid for it in advance. The DAILY MIRROR AND AMERICAN has a
correspondingly large and reliable constituency, and neither paper lacks
advertising patronage. The office in which they are printed is one of the
most extensive and best equipped in the Eastern States out of Boston.
In every sense of the word the MIRROR is successful, strong and solid.
The building up of this great and substantial enterprise from so small a
beginning has been the work of John B. Clarke, who bought the papers,
as stated above, in 1852, has ever since been their owner, manager, and
controlling spirit, and, in spite of sharp rivalry at home and from abroad
and the lack of opportunieies which such an undertaking must contend
with in a small city, has kept the MIRROR, in hard times as in good
times, steadily growing, enlarging its scope and influence, and gaining
strength with which to make and maintain new advances; and at the
same time has made it yield every year a handsome income.