In every store and factory there is a constant weeding-out process going on. The employer is constantly sending away “help” that have shown their incapacity to further the interests of the business，and others are being taken on. No matter how good times are，this sorting continues：only，if times are hard and work is scarce，the sorting is done finer－but out and forever out the incompetent and unworthy go. It is the survival of the fittest. Self-interest prompts every employer to keep the best—those who can carry a message to Garcia.
I know one man of really brilliant parts who has not the ability to manage a business of his own，and yet who is absolutely worthless to anyone else，because he carries with him constantly the insane suspicion that his employer is oppressing，or intending to oppress him. He cannot give orders， and he will not receive them. Should a message be given him to take to Garcia，his answer would probably be， “Take it yourself！”
Tonight this man walks the streets looking for work，the wind whistling through his threadbare coat. No one who knows him dare employ him，for he is a regular firebrand of discontent. He is impervious to reason，and the only thing that can impress him is the toe of a thick-soled Number Nine boot.
Of course I know that one so morally deformed is no less to be pitied than a physical cripple；but in our pitying， let us drop a tear，too，for the men who are striving to carry on a great enterprise，whose working hours are not limited by the whistle，and whose hair is fast turning white through the struggle to hold in line dowdy， indifference，slipshod， imbecility，and the heartless ingratitude which，but for their enterprise，would be both hungry and homeless.
Have I put the matter too strongly？ Possibly I have；but when all the world has gone a slumming， I wish to speak a word of sympathy for the man who succeeds－the man who，against great odds，has directed the efforts of others，and having succeeded，finds there’s nothing in it： nothing but bare board and clothes. I have carried a dinner pail and worked for day’s wages，and l 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. 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 mail 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. He is wanted in every city，town and village—in every office，shop，store and factory. The world cries out for such： he is needed and needed badly－the man who can“Carry a Message to Garcia”.
So who will send a letter to Garcia？
Elbert Hubbard
1899
人物簡介
安德魯·羅文(1857～1943年)
美國陸軍上校，生於弗吉尼亞州的門羅鎮（現西弗吉尼亞州），1881年畢業於西點軍校。在中美洲地區，他曾以武官的身份與軍情局合作，完成了許多小規模軍事任務。作為一個軍人，他與陸軍情報局一道完成了一項重要的軍事任務——將信送給加西亞，被授予傑出軍人十字勳章。
美西戰爭結束後，他先後在菲律賓群島等地服役，還在堪薩斯州立農業大學教授過軍事學和戰術策略學。退役後，他在舊金山度過了餘生。
羅文的事跡通過《致加西亞的信》這本小冊子傳遍了全世界，並成為敬業、服從、勤奮、主動的象征。
卡利斯托·加西亞·伊尼格斯(1836～1898年)
加西亞是古巴革命家，古巴反對西班牙統治的起義領袖。1895年，他到過美國。不久，在古巴美西戰爭中發揮了重要作用，尤其是在埃爾坎尼。1898年，他作為古巴一個委員會的成員赴華盛頓與美國總統麥金萊討論古巴事務。同年，他在華盛頓去世。阿爾伯特·哈伯德的文章《致加西亞的信》發表後，加西亞的名字在美國家喻戶曉。
威廉·麥金萊(1843～1901年)
美國第24任和第25任總統。1843年1月29日生於美國俄亥俄州奈爾斯市一個小工廠主家庭，南北戰爭時，年僅18歲的他應征入伍；1866年，他以少校軍銜退役。退役後的麥金萊開始鑽研法律，成了一名律師並積極參與地方的政治活動。1891年，麥金萊出任俄亥俄州州長。1896年，麥金萊被共和黨提名為總統候選人，並在競選中獲勝。麥金萊任總統期間，大力振興經濟，使美國的經濟有了很大起色，從而獲得了“繁榮總統”的美譽。
麥金萊總統在任期間還發動了美西戰爭。美國海軍在古巴聖地亞哥海港外重創了西班牙艦隊，摧毀了西班牙海軍力量。《致加西亞的信》所描述的就是美西戰爭時的故事。
1900年，麥金萊以前所未有的票數贏得了總統大選，不幸的是，1901年9月15日，麥金萊遇刺身亡。