 | |
| Author | Elbert Hubbard |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literature |
| Publisher | The Roycrofters |
Publication date | 1899 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback, E-Book) |
| Pages | 42 |
| ISBN | 978-1-61720-215-5 |
A Message to Garcia is a widely distributed essay written by Elbert Hubbard in 1899, expressing the value of individual initiative and conscientiousness in work. The essay's primary example is a dramatized version of a daring escapade performed by an American soldier, First Lieutenant Andrew S. Rowan, just before the Spanish–American War. The essay describes Rowan carrying a message from President William McKinley to "Gen. Calixto García, a leader of the Cuban insurgents somewhere in the mountain fastnesses of Cuba—no one knew where". The essay contrasts Rowan's self-driven effort against "the imbecility of the average man—the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it".[1]: 17–18
The point 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!"
- ^ Elbert Hubbard, A Message to Garcia. East Aurora, N.Y.: The Roycrofters, 1914