A Message to Garcia

“There is a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can.” 

President McKinley needs to communicate an important leader of the Cuban liberation movement, but he’s hidden deep in the island’s hinterlands. The only way to reach that leader is by a courier with the skills and determination to overcome every obstacle that bars his way. That person is Rowan, someone who won’t quit until a job is done, no matter what the job may be. 

“[…] 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 […]” 

Time is short, the conditions are difficult, and impediments are many. Rowan simply moves relentlessly toward his destination, despite dangers both natural and human, and delivers the message in short order. The note is described as “strapped over [Rowan’s] heart,” as though his endeavor were far more important than his life.

“McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, ‘Where is he at?’” 

Rowan isn’t the sort of man who asks others how he should go about his tasks. He isn’t someone who seeks answers from others about things that he can determine himself. This philosophy is actually one many modern companies eschew, because workers may have many different ways of interpreting instructions and the potential for errata Is high. Also, Rowan may have accomplished his task much more quickly if he had asked where Garcia was. He may have wasted much time searching.

“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.’”

Character, and not intellect, sets the virtuous apart from others. The essay describes the kind of person who gets things done, no matter what, as opposed to most people, who hem and haw and then quail at difficulties. The phrase “carry a message to Garcia” was widely used during the 20th century to represent this type of fortitude.

“General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias.”

“Garcia” represents difficult problems that crop up in everyone’s lives and need to be solved. Rowan’s success suggests an attitude and a standard of performance that will work well at all times and in any situation, and especially when people face major challenges. 

“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.” 

Among those who try to accomplish challenging tasks in a group setting, chief among their concerns is the general lack, not of skills, but of a certain toughness of mind that will overcome difficulties as a matter of course. This mindset embodies an elitism of grit and the belief that those who don't accomplish a task are lazy or ignorant. There is no space in this paradigm for growth and learning: one either is or is not worthy of their job.

“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.” 

Hubbard expresses that Rowans are rare in the world. Much more common are incompetents who shirk their duties, who look for a way out of working instead of searching for problems to solve with enthusiasm. Most workers must be cajoled, or threatened with firing, before they’ll get any work done at all. Hubbard’s demeaning tone implies that while contemporary workers’ failures are their own fault for their choice of laziness, there is also nothing those worthless workers can do to improve their lot in life. This is a sort of Hobbesian view of humanity that only allows for social mobility based on a divine right of moral fortitude.

“What do you want to know for? Which Encyclopedia? What’s the matter with Charlie doing it?” 

Most assistants, given an assignment—for example, to look up some information and report on it—will try to get someone else to do the work for them. The number of excuses is endless; that an assistant offers them is a sign that the assistant’s performance will be poor.

“If men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all?” 

People dream of a better future, when people will be inspired, generous, and cooperative, but if they are unable to behave in that manner now, how will they be able to do so in the future? When we hope that someone will fix the problems that beset us, we wait in vain.

“We have recently been hearing much maudlin sympathy expressed for the ‘downtrodden denizens of the sweat-shop’ 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 frowsy ne’er-do-wells to do intelligent work; and his long, patient striving with ‘help’ that does nothing but loaf when his back is turned.”

Hubbard argues that much of the trouble at work stems, not from unfairness by the boss, but by lazy incompetence among the workers. Business owners struggle to find capable, eager employees even during hard times when jobs are scarce. That said, according to records kept by the US Senate, the average workweek for manufacturing jobs in the 1890s was over 60 hours per week, and in the years prior to the Triangle Shirtwaist incident conditions could be lethal.

“Self-interest prompts every employer to keep the best—those who can carry a message to Garcia.”

In Hubbard’s time, in a competitive marketplace, business owners must search for the best workers they can find; a “Rowan” who gets the job done, no matter what, is a rare find, and an owner will do whatever’s needed to keep that person on the payroll. The average modern worker stays at their job 4.4 years, which implies commitment on neither the workers’ nor the boss’s part. 

“I have carried a dinner-pail and worked for day’s wages, and I have also been an employer of labor, 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 high-handed, any more than all poor men are virtuous.” 

Not all work problems are the fault of the workers; neither are they all the fault of the business owner. An effort to be competent at all times, by everyone involved, would solve most workplace gripes. 

“My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the ‘boss’ is away, as well as when he is at home. And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the missive, without asking 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 a strike for higher wages. Civilization is one long, anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted. His kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go.” 

Anyone who can get the job done, without excuse or complaint, will always be in demand. If that person finds working conditions to be a problem, the boss will try to fix the situation, lest that person leave for greener pastures.