<Tr> <Th> Publisher </Th> <Td> The Roycrofters </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Publication date </Th> <Td> 1899 </Td> </Tr> <P> "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--American War . The essay describes Rowan carrying a message from President William McKinley to "Gen. Calixto García, a leader of the Cuban insurgents somewhere in the mountain fastness of Cuba--no one knew where ." The essay contrasts Rowan's self - driven effort against "the imbecility of the average man--the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it ." </P> <P> The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land . 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!" </P>

What is the purpose of a message to garcia