Pantagraph.com Weather forecast, local radar and more
NewsSunday, April 20, 2008 9:23 AM CDT
Comments Comments (0) | E-mail this page E-mail this page | Print this page Print this page | Enlarge type Enlarge type | Reduce type Reduce type | Search archives Search archives | RSS RSS feeds | Add to My Yahoo! Add to My Yahoo!
'Garcia' essayist Hubbard got his message to millions
By Bill Kemp
Archivist/Librarian
McLean County Museum of History
Advertisement

BLOOMINGTON — In the first decades of the 20th century, workers around the globe were urged by their bosses to “get the message to Garcia.” | From Our Past page

This curious expression — which means getting the job done, no questions asked — was the title of a widely published 1899 essay by homegrown literary eccentric Elbert Green Hubbard.

Born in Bloomington in 1856, Hubbard grew up in Hudson, where his father, Silas, practiced medicine. Elbert worked on a national mail order program for his brother-in-law, who ran the Larkin Soap Co. Hubbard walked away from the business with a tidy sum, based on mail-order sales of his musings and the musings of others.

He established the Roycroft Press in East Aurora, N.Y., which spurned cheap, mass-produced publishing techniques in favor of hand-set type and handmade paper. Eventually, the expanding Roycroft “campus” evolved into something resembling an Arts and Crafts artist colony shepherded by “Fra Elbertus,” as Hubbard liked to call himself.

In 1913, Hubbard recounted the story of how “A Message to Garcia”— he called it a “literary trifle”— became a publishing phenomenon. The essay, he said, originated “from a little argument over the teacups” with his son, Bert.

It was Feb. 22, 1899, and father and son were arguing about the recently concluded Spanish-American War. Bert said the war’s hero was not Theodore Roosevelt or other obvious choice, but rather 1st Lt. Andrew S. Rowan, who carried a message from President William McKinley to Gen. Calixto Garcia of the Cuban Revolutionary Army.

“It came to me like a flash!” Elbert Hubbard wrote. “Yes, the boy is right, the hero is the man who does his work, who carries the message to Garcia.”

In the lead-up to war, U.S. officials needed to make contact with Cuban revolutionaries fighting for independence against Spain. The 41-year-old Rowan, a veteran intelligence officer fluent in Spanish, traveled uncover to Jamaica. From there, he secretly landed on the southeastern coast of Cuba, trekked across the mountains, and survived a nighttime assassination attempt by Spanish spies before finally meeting with Garcia in the war-torn city of Bayamo.

Contrary to Hubbard’s account, Rowan did not carry a letter in an oilskin pouch strapped over his heart. The “message” was verbal, not written, and it consisted of Rowan conferring with Garcia on war-related issues, such as the relative strengths of Spanish and rebel forces.

Rowan was secreted out of Cuba to the British-controlled Bahamas, where he made his way back to Washington, D.C., in time to report to U.S. officials, who were readying plans to invade Cuba. Thus, the eventual title of Hubbard’s treatise is somewhat misleading, for the real goal of the mission was to carry a message from, not to, Garcia.

After the argument with his son, Fra Elbertus dashed off his essay on Rowan and the importance of duty, finding a spot for it in the upcoming issue of Philistine, the Roycroft magazine.

“A Message to Garcia” is curious in that it’s not really concerned with the Spanish-American War or patriotism. Instead, Hubbard used the essay to praise the initiative and entrepreneurial spirit of Lt. Rowan, who accepted a difficult assignment without question or complaint. “It is not book-learning young men need,” Hubbard wrote, “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.’ ”

To Hubbard’s surprise, the essay found an audience, especially among employers interested in giving their “frowsy ne’er-do-well” employees a kick in the pants. The New York Central Railroad, for instance, issued the essay in booklet form in editions that numbered an astonishing half million.

The Russian national railway translated “Message” for its vast work force, and, if Hubbard is to be believed, soldiers on both sides of the Russo-Japanese War carried versions to the front lines. The essay also appeared in hundreds of magazines and newspapers worldwide. By 1913, Hubbard estimated 40 million copies were in print, making it the most successful “literary venture” ever recorded for a still-living author.

Tragically, on May 7, 1915, Hubbard and his second wife, Alice Moore, were among the nearly 1,200 passengers and crewmen killed when the Germans torpedoed the luxury liner Lusitania.

“Message” remained popular in U.S. business circles into the mid-20th century. Since then, Hubbard’s essay has slowly disappeared from the cultural landscape. But who knows? One could argue that with today’s hypercompetitive, globalized, management-obsessed business climate, “Message to Garcia” is due for a revival.

Take a look
The free spirit Hubbard dismissed the formal dress attire of his age and instead wore flannel shorts, corduroy pants, and a Stetson hat. He also wore his hair longer than most men did back then. "Yea, wear thy hair long; it is a sign that thou art free," he declared. (Photo courtesy of McLean County Museum of History)
Video
Most commented stories
Browse online archives
Recent issues:
Reader comments on this story - 0 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.
Add your own comments

Please read the rules before posting comments.

You must be logged in to leave comments.
If you don't have a member ID, please register.

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login?
(requires cookies)
  Forgot Your Password?
 
Lee Enterprises Customer Service | 301 W. Washington St., PO Box 2907, Bloomington, IL 61701-2907 | Ph. 309-829-9000 | 800-747-7323
Copyright © 2008, Pantagraph Publishing Co. and Lee Enterprises. All rights reserved. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy