The following is an article by Elbert Green
Hubbard, a
businessman, printer and writer whose most successful publication was A
Message to Garcia (1899). It was reprinted in the millions at the time.
You will enjoy reading it.
A
MESSAGE TO GARCIA
In
all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the horizon of
memory like Mars at perihelion.
When war broke out between Spain and
the United
States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of
the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain fastnesses of Cuba
- no one knew where. No mail or telegraph message could reach him. The
President must secure his co-operation, and quickly.
What to do!
Someone said to the President, "This
is a fellow
by the name of Rowan who will find Garcia for you, if anybody can."
Rowan was sent for and given a letter
to be
delivered to Garcia. How the "fellow by the name of Rowan" took the
letter, sealed it up in an oilskin pouch, strapped it over his heart,
in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat,
disappeared into the jungle, and in three weeks came out on the other
side of the island, having traversed a hostile country on foot and
delivered his letter to Garcia - are things I have no special desire
now to tell in detail. the point that I wish to make is this: McKinley
gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter
and did not ask, "Where is he at?"
By the Eternal! There is a man whose
form should
be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of
the land. it is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about
this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them
to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do
the thing - "Carry a message to Garcia."
General Garcia is dead now, but there
are other
Garcias. No man who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where
many hands were needed, but has been well-nigh appalled at times by the
imbecility of the average man - the inability or unwillingness to
concentrate on a thing and do it.
Slipshod assistance, foolish
inattention, dowdy
indifference, and half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man succeeds,
unless by hook or crook or threat he forces or bribes other men to
assist him; or mayhap, God in His goodness performs a miracle, and
sends him an Angel of Light for an assistant.
You, reader, put this matter to a
test: You are
sitting now in your office - six clerks are within call. Summon any one
and make a request: "Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief
memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio."
Will the clerk quietly say, "yes,
sir," and go and
do the task?
On your life he will not. He will look
at you out
of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions:
Who was he?
Which encyclopedia?
Which encyclopedia?
Was I hired for that?
Don't you mean Bismark?
What's the matter with Charlie doing
it?
Is he dead?
Is there any hurry?
Shan't I bring you the book and let
you look it up
yourself?
What do you want to know for?
And I will lay you ten to one that
after you have
answered the questions, and explained how to find the information, and
why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks
to help him try to find Garcia - and then come back and tell you there
is no such man. Of course I may lose my bet, but according to the Law
of Averages I will not.
Now, if you are wise, you will not
bother to
explain to your "assistant" that Correggio is indexed under C's, not
K's, but you will smile sweetly and say, "never mind," and go look it
up yourself. And this incapacity of independent action, the moral
stupidity, the infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully
catch hold and lift - these are the things that put pure Socialism so
far into the future. If men will not act for themselves, what will they
do when the benefit of their effort is for all?
A first mate with knotted club seems
necessary;
and the dread of getting "the bounce" Saturday night holds many a
worker in place. Advertise for a stenographer, and nine out of ten who
apply can neither spell or punctuate - and do not think it necessary to
do so.
Can such a one write a letter to
Garcia?
"You see that book-keeper," said the
foreman to me
in a large factory.
"Yes; what about him?"
"Well, he's a fine accountant, but if
I'd send him
up town on an errand, he might accomplish the errand all right, and on
the other hand, might stop at four saloons on the way, and when he got
to Main Street would forget what he had been sent for."
Can such a man be entrusted to carry a
message to
Garcia?
We have recently been hearing much
maudlin
sympathy expressed for the "downtrodden denizens of the sweatshop" and
the "homeless wanderer searching for honest employment," and with it
all often go many hard words for the men in power.
Nothing is said about the employer who
grows old
before his time in a vain attempt to get frowzy ne'er-do-wells to do
intelligent work; and his long, patient striving after "help" that does
nothing but loaf when his back is turned. In every store and factory
there is a constant weeding-out process going on. The employer is
constantly sending away "help" that have shown their incapacity to
further the interests of the business, and others are being taken on.
No matter how good times are, this sorting continues: only, if times
are hard and work is scarce, the sorting is done finer - but out and
forever out the incompetent and unworthy go. It is survival of
the
fittest. Self-interest prompts every employer to keep the best - those
who can carry a message to Garcia.
I know one man of really brilliant
parts who has
not the ability to manage a business of his own, and yet who is
absolutely worthless to anyone else, because he carries with him
constantly the insane suspicion that his employer is
oppressing,
or intending to oppress him. He cannot give orders, and will not
receive them. Should a message be given to take to Garcia, his answer
would probably be, "Take it yourself!"
Of course, I know that one so morally
deformed is
no less to be pitied than a physical cripple; but in our pitying let us
drop a tear, too, for the men who are striving to carry on a great
enterprise, whose hair is fast turning white through the struggle to
hold in line dowdy indifference, slipshod imbecility, and the heartless
ingratitude which, but for their enterprise, would be both hungry and
homeless.
Have I put the matter too strongly?
Possibly I
have; but when all the world has gone a-slumming I wish to speak a word
of sympathy for the man who succeeds - the man who, against all odds,
has directed the efforts of others, and having succeeded, finds there's
nothing in it: nothing but bare board and cloths. I have carried a
dinner-pail and worked for day's wages, and I have also been an
employer of labour, and I know there is something to be said on both
sides. There is no excellence per se, in poverty; rags are no
recommendation; and all employers are not rapacious and highhanded, any
more than all poor men are virtuous. My heart goes out to the man who
does his work when the "boss" is away, as well as when he is home. And
the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the missive,
without asking for any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention
of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but
deliver it, never gets "laid off," nor has to go on strike for higher
wages. Civilization is one long, anxious search for such individuals.
Anything such a man asks shall be granted. He is wanted in every city,
town and village - in every office, shop, store and factory. The world
cries out for such; he is needed and needed badly - the man who can
"Carry a Message to Garcia."
GLOSSARY
aught: anything;
whatever.
Bismark: Otto
von Bismarck
(1815-1898), German political leader and first
chancellor
(chief of government) of Germany from
1871
to 1890.
board: meals
provided for pay.
bounce, the: (slang)
a discharge from a job.
Correggio: Antonio
Allegri da Correggio (1494-1534), Italian painter. His works are mostly
on religious subjects.
Cuban business:
reference to the involvement of Cuba in the
events of
the Spanish-American War. See also
Spanish-American
War in
this glossary.
denizens: people
who frequent or inhabit particular places.
dinner-pail: a
pail, bucket or lunch box in which the worker carries his dinner with
him.
dowdy: not
neat,
shabby.
Eternal, by the: (Colloquial) a
variation of by God, a mild exclamation expressing surprise, wonder,
puzzlement, pleasure or the like. The Eternal is another name for God.
fastesses:strong,
safe
places, strongholds.
firebrand: a
person who arouses angry feelings in others, agitator.
fishy: doubtful
or suspicious.
frowzy: slovenly,
dirty.
Garcia: Calixto
Garcia Iniguez (1836?-1898), Cuban lawyer, soldier and revolutionist.
He led the Cuban force in a battle in the Spanish-American War (1898)
and was appointed to represent Cuba in the negotiations with the United
States for Cuban Independence (1898).
highhanded:
domineering;
overbearing.
hook or crook, by: (informal) by
any means
possible. This derives from a law in England in the Middle Ages which
restricted peasants from gathering firewood and only allowed them to
gather wood easily obtained, such as that that hung low enough in the
trees which could be pulled down or cut off with a shepherd's crook (a
staff with a hooked end) or a bill-hook (a hatchet with a hook-shaped
blade.)
lay
(someone) ten to one: (slang) bet
(someone) ten to one;
i.e., if proved wrong about the outcome 9of something), pay ten for
every one wagered.
life, on your: (informal) you
can be sure; certainly.
variation of you bet your life.
Mars at
perihelion, like: very
clearly. Perihelion is the point nearest the Sun in the orbit of a
planet. When mars is at perihelion it can be viewed very clearly
because Earth is between Mars and the Sun.
maudlin: sentimental
in a weak or foolish way.
mayhap:perhaps.
Mckinley: William
McKinley (1843-1901), twenty-fifth president of the United States
(1897-1901); US president during the Spanish-American War.
missive: a
written message.
ne-er-do-wells: worthless
fellows. "Ne'er" is short for "never."
Number Nine:references
to a
shoe size.
oilskin: a
cloth
treated with oil to make it waterproof.
rapacious: greedy.
Rowan: Lieutenant
Andrew Summers Rowan (1857-1943).
shan't: (colloquial) contraction
of shall
not.
Spanish-American
War: a
war fought in 1898 between Spain and the United States. Accounts of
Spanish mistreatment of Cuban natives had aroused much resentment in
the US. The war began as an intervention by the United States on behalf
of Cuba, and the US won the war easily.
sweatshop: a
place where employees work long hours for low pay under poor working
conditions.
well-nigh: very
nearly, almost.
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