Rock Island Argus., 1900-01-04
MESSAGES TO GARCIA.
Another Side of the Question
Besides Rowan's.
A PHILANTHRoPIsTs INQUIRIES

Circumstances In ROwRn's Case
Some Employees Who Tried tC
Take Messages to Garcia.
In view of the recent article, entitled
a Message TO Garcia" which was
published extensively in the United
States. the following story from the
New York Sun. describing how the
message" is regarded by various peo
pie, is OF interest:
''Queer-the different ways there are
OF looking al thing" said the phil.
anthrOpic man thoughtfully.
Sometimes. yes" assented his com
panion with some reserve. Did you
have anything special in mind:'
Yes, / had rejoined the other en-
pliatically. 1T was that Message to
Garcia Read it, 1 suppose"'
Sure. Great, wasn't it:'
You remember when it came out %
The other nodded.
That was when / thought it was
great. Now. l haven't always as much
money as l would like and oftener than
not l can't do the things l want TO.
l thought Daniels was doing a fine
thing when he scattered that sermon
broadcast, and l wanted to print an
other million and scatter the copies
myself, but ] couldn't. Well you know
l have more or less of a gift at oratory
and am constantly sought after by
churches and philanthropic organiZa-
tiouS to exercise ii. especially when
they are extra hard up and haven't
money enough in the treasury to war
rant their risking an offer to 4 possible
entertainer of more than expenses,
which they usually expect me to throw
in?'
Again his friend nodded assent.
What l did was to learn that thing
verbatim ad Iiteratim and all the rest
OF it. Then l got into the spirit of it,.
threw my whole soul and all my best
gestures into ii and shot it off at the
beginning or end or middle of every
programme all last winter
What was the effect?" asked the
listener as the philanthropist paused
apparently for comment.
I'm forgetting it this winter" said
he mournfully. Il don't remember
about the first line or two. l suspect
that | was too interested in my own
performance, but as soon as the new
ness began to wear off | asked people
how they liked il. The first man l
asked was a substantial looking busi-
ness man, member of the board of
trade. l think. in n city of about 300,
900 population. His only comment
was: Yankees are great on asking
questions. If Rowan had asked any
body where to find Garcia, as likely
as not the answer would have been,
What do you want to Know for?"'
The next man i questioned hap
pened to be a government clerk. He
said: Rowan had probably been there
before. Did you ever ask the United
States government for Information
wien something had to he done in 4
hurry? l said that l had not. Well
said my friend. all I've got TO say is.
follow Rowan's example and don't
In the course of time l struck de-
and quicker than Rowan did it and
a commercial traveller who thought he
did harder stunts every time he sold
n big bill of goods and the bond buyer
for commercial house who told sto-
rics CT smelling town bonds before
they were of the printing press away
outstripping all competitors in the pur-
chase of them and sometimes at the
risk of his life from the moonshiners.
by this time | had begun to be in
tcrcstcd. l had not thought that there
might be two sides to this thing, but
since there were | began interviewing
the young men in my audiences. Most
of :hcm had heard of the message be-
;@ r
found a young man who had read it L
asked him what he thought of it. The
general answer was. Smart fellow that
wrote it. but he never tried it on,
guess and when pressed for greater
lucidity the talk l would get would
run after this fashion: Sounds well,
but II I was to try anything like that
on my old man I'd get the sack i0 a
minute. He wants questions asked so
as TO be sure that he won't have to do
the thing over himself. You see. he
just doesn't want the thing done; he
wants it done his way. II he should
tell me TO do thing any old way so as
it got done, I'd expect TO hear his fu-
neral preached next day. Guess I'd
throw n fit on the spot myself
An indexer told me that he had just
lost his job. one which he had held for
Is years with an important firm, be-
cause some miserable inventor had
thought out wretched numerical
scheme by which any boy could file
letters just as his employer had decid-
ell they should be fled and think of
anything under creation but his en-
plcyers business while he was doing 1t.
a stenOgraphcr had come to know
so much about his firms needs that
one day when everybody was away
aud an important letter came which he
thought needed an immediate answer
he called up the head OF the firm at his
house on the telephone. His wife