. . . . . . "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. As its primary example, the essay uses a dramatized version of a daring escapade performed by an American soldier, 1st Lt. Andrew S. Rowan, just prior to the Spanish\u2013American War. The essay describes Rowan carrying a message from President William McKinley to \"Gen. Calixto Garc\u00EDa, a leader of the Cuban insurgents somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba\u2014no one knew where\". The essay contrasts Rowan's self-driven effort against \"the imbecility of the average man\u2014the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it\"."@en . "A Message to Garcia"@en . .