21 pages • 42 minutes read
Elbert HubbardA Message to Garcia
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1899A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Character and Competence as the Backbone of Society
Hubbard notes a lack of standards among American workers; he attributes this to an absence of inner strength and determination, a syndrome he calls “moral stupidity.” This condition assumes intentional choice to not do one’s best (“best” being defined by the overseer), and this position of the moral superiority of the Rowans of the world persists today. Traces of it can even be found in the DSM-5, now termed “malingering,” or creating conditions such that the needy party is helpless. Hubbard has deduced this epidemic from personal experience; he manages a prominent artist colony and employs help at his on-campus print shop. There, he finds it hard to get his workers to complete tasks as assigned.
What’s the cause? Does he not pay them enough? Is he mean to them? Hubbard cut his teeth on sales work; as such, he knows how to win people over to his side. Yet none of his exhortations succeed. He decides that he must search, not for the right words of inspiration, but for the right people who already have a strong work ethic deeply imbued. A person who gets the job done is highly to be sought after. This person’s characteristics include loyalty, promptness, and completeness.
These people are “loyal to a trust” (3): They do what they say they’ll do. They don’t do something else instead. Encountering a distraction, they never succumb to it or make up an excuse such as, “The job wasn’t that important anyway.” Once they promise to do it, the project gets done, not because they’re treated fairly or because the boss “deserves” it or because it’s a worthy cause, but because their word is as good as their bond. Their loyalty is to the task.
They “act promptly”: There is no dilly-dallying and no excuses. They don’t hedge with distracting questions and doubts. Of course it’s possible that obstacles and delays will arise, but the diligent agent makes a point of overcoming such impediments in a timely manner. It’s not a question of “if” but “when,” and that “when” is well within the time limit for completion.
They “do the thing” (3): Once the task is accepted, the agent will complete it. Jungles and Yellow Fever ahead? They push on. Hostile sentries about? They sneak past. Destination blocked off by bad weather? Somehow they get through. When a person of this caliber accepts the job, that person’s word becomes law.
Loyalty, promptness, and completion: these are the chief characteristics of the valued person. Indeed, these characteristics are to be admired. Yet “Garcia” ignores the possibility that these traits can be sewn into workplace training programs to grow workers’ competence and ability. Instead, Hubbard’s perspective supports the modern belief that lower classes “deserve” their status in life while the “captains of industry” deserve theirs, both through the gift of the divine touch of inborn Darwinian “fitness.”
Workplace Conditions
What’s required in the workplace is a can-do attitude. Rowan, who carries the message to Garcia despite all obstacles, is an exemplar of that temperament. Instead of saying, “Give me more money and I’ll do it” or “That’s not my responsibility,” the Rowan type simply carries out the mission, and the job is completed in short order.
This spirit of accomplishment is lacking in the workday world, which instead is filled with “Slipshod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indifference, and half-hearted work” (4). It’s true that the industrialized world often rewards mediocrity; it can be cold and indifferent, its bosses unfair. The competent agent, however, moves efficiently through that world, getting the job done despite the problems and incentives of others.
This achievement-oriented type of person always is in demand, simply because such workers are head and shoulders above the efforts of others. Hubbard While many people suffer unemployment or unfair or unpleasant working conditions, the accomplished person always finds employment and always discovers a way to get the job done. Hubbard goes so far as to suggest strikes for higher pay would be unnecessary were the world filled with Rowans, because their character would inherently be recognized and rewarded by employers. This has been disproven through history and that fact that deregulation frequently leads to abuse of power. In an article supporting governmental regulation, the director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative suggests that “when an incident occurs, the entire industry bears the reputation of its weakest actor. A regulatory floor to govern behavior is thus good for everyone” (Gross, Samantha. “The Danger in Deregulation.” The Brookings Institution, PlanetPolicy, 9 Jan 2018).
It’s no surprise that “A Message to Garcia” is a staple of military leadership. The “don’t ask questions; just do what you’re told” attitude has historically been integral to the organized, industrial warfare that characterized 19th and 20th centuries. In Hubbard’s view, “there is no room for the ‘strategic corporal’ or disruptive thinkers,” but the “digital age and complex geopolitical environment of the twenty-first century are not conducive to Hubbard’s simplistic leadership philosophy. […] Today’s challenges faced by the military are complex and multifaceted. The environment is ambiguous, and while war has immutable continuities, warfare today is nowhere near as straightforward as that of the Industrial Age” (Maisel, Adam and Will DuVal. “An Outdated Message to Garcia. Why Hubbard’s Essay Should Be Shelved for Good.” The Modern Warfare Institute, West Point, 9 March 2017). This new type of warfare calls for critical thinking on the part of underlings and agile response on the part of commanders, neither of which is addressed by “Garcia.”
The Power of the Printed Word in the Information Age
Printed originally as a filler article in Hubbard’s magazine, The Philistine, as a rhetorical artifact “Garcia” is an example of the power of literacy and influence in the 20th century. When originally published, only those educated employers from relatively upper- or upper middle-class backgrounds would have had access to it, as that was the part of the populace who could read and had money to spend on pleasure reading. As such, Hubbard here is essentially commiserating with his peers on the shiftlessness of the unwashed masses without having to face backlash from opposing perspectives. The “influencers” of the time would have helped to purport Hubbard’s message.
As the populace became more literate (according to the National Center for Education Statistics, approximately 20% of the US population was illiterate in 1890 compared to just over 4% in 1930), more people would have had access to Hubbard’s tract. Still, the culture had been influenced by the power-elite: it is still widely read and translated into many different languages.
In today’s “post-truth” era, the mechanisms of culture are less compact, allowing for multifarious voices to compete for space in the rhetorical landscape. While this can seem less cohesive, it also provides space for alternative interpretations and critical thinking.
