十九世紀末，二十年代初是美國崛起的時代。美國的成功有諸多因素，但是當時杜威提出的實用主義思想不能不說是一個重要的因素之一。
短篇小說 《A Message to Garcia》不但激勵了當時美國一代人的敬業精神，還生動地詮釋了杜威的實用主義思想。
無獨有偶，中國的改革開放之初，鄧小平提出的貓論，也是典型的實用主義思想，致使中國改革開放得以成功。
近代是這樣，古代管仲治理齊國的時候，其指導思想其實也可以歸結為實用主義。看來，實用主義確實是實用的。
實用主義將價值觀建立在結果上而不問手段與過程，在認識論上崇尚經驗主義而輕視真理的絕對性。反映在社會上就是重經濟而輕道德。它的優點是脫離了道德的約束，因此辦事情的效率很高。它的缺點也是脫離了道德的約束，因此往往造成社會道德的淪喪，而使人與人之間的關係發生危機。
1899
A Message to Garcia
By Elbert Hubbard
In all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the horizon of my memory like Mars at perihelion. When war broke out between Spain & the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba- no one knew where. No mail nor telegraph message could reach him. The President must secure his cooperation, and quickly.
What to do!
Some one said to the President, "There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can."
Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How "the fellow by the name of Rowan" took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, & in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail.
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!"
General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias.
No man, who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many hands were needed, but has been well nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the average man- the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it. Slip-shod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indifference, & half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or bribes other men to assist him; or mayhap, God in His goodness performs a miracle, & sends him an Angel of Light for an assistant. You, reader, put this matter to a test: You are sitting now in your office- six clerks are within call.
Summon any one and make this request: "Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio".
Will the clerk quietly say, "Yes, sir," and go do the task?
On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions:
Who was he?
Which encyclopedia?
Where is the encyclopedia?
Was I hired for that?
Don’t you mean Bismarck?
What’s the matter with Charlie doing it?
Is he dead?
Is there any hurry?
Shan’t I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?
What do you want to know for?
And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions, and explained how to find the information, and why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks to help him try to find Garcia- and then come back and tell you there is no such man. Of course I may lose my bet, but according to the Law of Average, I will not.
Now if you are wise you will not bother to explain to your "assistant" that Correggio is indexed under the C’s, not in the K’s, but you will smile sweetly and say, "Never mind," and go look it up yourself.
And this incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift, are the things that put pure Socialism so far into the future. If men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all? A first-mate with knotted club seems necessary; and the dread of getting "the bounce" Saturday night, holds many a worker to his place.
Advertise for a stenographer, and nine out of ten who apply, can neither spell nor punctuate- and do not think it necessary to.
Can such a one write a letter to Garcia?
"You see that bookkeeper," said the foreman to me in a large factory.
"Yes, what about him?"
"Well he’s a fine accountant, but if I’d send him up town on an errand, he might accomplish the errand all right, and on the other hand, might stop at four saloons on the way, and when he got to Main Street, would forget what he had been sent for."
Can such a man be entrusted to carry a message to Garcia?
We have recently been hearing much maudlin sympathy expressed for the "downtrodden denizen of the sweat-shop" and the "homeless wanderer searching for honest employment," & with it all often go many hard words for the men in power.
Nothing is said about the employer who grows old before his time in a vain attempt to get frowsy ne’er-do-wells to do intelligent work; and his long patient striving with "help" that does nothing but loaf when his back is turned. 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 any one 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 fire-brand of discontent. He is impervious to reason, and the only thing that can impress him is the toe of a thick-soled No. 9 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, slip-shod imbecility, and the heartless ingratitude, which, but for their enterprise, would be both hungry & 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 & worked for day’s wages, and I 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; & 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 man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly take 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; his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. 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, & needed badly- the man who can carry a message to Garcia.
中文翻譯 (譯者待考）
在所有與古巴有關的事情中，有一個人常常令我無法忘懷。
美西戰爭爆發以後，美國必須馬上與西班牙反抗軍首領加西亞將軍取得聯係。加西亞將軍隱藏在古巴遼闊的崇山峻嶺中——沒有人知道它確切的地點，因而無法送信給他。但是，美國總統必須盡快地與他建立合作關係。
怎麽辦呢?
有人對總統推薦說：“有一個名叫羅文的人，如果有人能找到加西亞將軍，那個人一定就是他。”
於是，他們將羅文找來，交給他一封信——寫給加西亞的信。關於那個名叫羅文的人，如何拿了信，將它裝進一個油紙袋裏，打封，吊在胸口藏好，如何在3個星期之後，徒步穿越一個危機四伏的國家，將信交到加西亞手上——這些細節都不是我想說明的，我要強調的重點是：
美國總統將一封寫給加西亞的信交給了羅文，羅文接過信後，並沒有問：“他在哪裏?”
像羅文這樣的人，我們應該為他塑造一座不朽的雕像，放在每一所大學裏。年輕人所需要的不僅僅是學習書本上的知識，也不僅僅是聆聽他人的種種教誨，而是更需要一種敬業精神，對上級的托付，立即采取行動，全心全意去完成任務——“把信送給加西亞”。
加西亞將軍已不在人世，但現在還有其他的“加西亞”。沒有人能經營好這樣的企業——雖然需要眾多人手，但是令人吃驚的是，其中大部分人碌碌無為，他們要麽沒有能力，要麽根本不用心。
懶懶散散、漠不關心、馬馬虎虎的工作態度，對於許多人來說似乎已經變成常態。除非苦口婆心、威逼利誘地強迫他們做事，或者，請上帝創造奇跡，派一名天使相助，否則，這些人什麽也做不了。
不信的話我們來做個試驗：
此刻你正坐在辦公室裏——有6名職員在等待安排任務。你將其中一位叫過來，吩咐他說：“請幫我查一查百科全書，把克裏吉奧的生平做成一篇摘要。”
他會靜靜地回答：“好的，先生。”然後立即去執行嗎?
我敢說他絕對不會，他會用滿臉狐疑的神色盯著你，提出一個或數個問題：
他是誰呀?
他去世了嗎?
哪套百科全書?
百科全書放在哪兒?
這是我的工作嗎?
為什麽不叫喬治去做呢?
急不急?
你為什麽要查他?
我敢以十比一的賭注跟你打賭，在你回答了他所提出的問題，解釋了如何去查那些資料，以及為什麽要查的理由之後，那個職員會走開，去吩咐另外一個職員幫助他查某某的資料，然後回來告訴你，根本就沒有這個人。當然，我也許會輸掉賭注，但是根據平均率法則，我相信自己不會輸。
真的，如果你很聰明，就不應該對你的“助理”解釋，克裏吉奧編在什麽類，而不是什麽類，你會麵帶笑容地說：“算啦。”然後自己去查。
這種被動的行為，這種道德的愚行，這種意誌的脆弱，這種姑息的作風，有可能將這個社會帶到“三個和尚沒水喝”的危險境界。
如果人們都不能為了自己而自動自發，你又怎麽能期待他們為別人服務呢?
乍看起來，任何一家公司都有可以分擔工作的人選，但事實真的如此嗎？你登廣告征求一名速記員，應征者中，十有八九不會拚也不會寫，他們甚至認為這些都無所謂。
這種人能把信帶給加西亞嗎?
“你看那個職員。”一家大公司的總經理對我說。
“看到了，怎麽樣?”
“他是個不錯的會計，但是，如果我派他到城裏去辦個小差事，他也許能夠完成任務，但也可能中途走進一家酒吧。而到了鬧市區，他甚至可能完全忘記自己來幹什麽的。”
這種人你能派他送信給加西亞嗎?
最近，我們經常聽到許多人對那些“收入微薄而毫無出頭之日”以及“但求溫飽卻無家可歸”的人表示同情，同時將那些雇主罵得體無完膚。
但是，從沒有人提到，有些老板如何一直到白發蒼蒼，都無法使那些不求上進的懶蟲勤奮起來；也沒有人談及，有些雇主如何持久而耐心地希望感動那些當他一轉身就投機取巧、敷衍了事的員工，使他們能振作起來。
在每家商店和工廠，都有一些常規性的調整過程。公司負責人經常送走那些無法對公司有所貢獻的員工，同時也吸納新的成員。無論業務如何繁忙，這種整頓一直在進行著。隻有當經濟不景氣，就業機會不多的時候，這種整頓才會有明顯的效果——那些無法勝任工作、缺乏才幹的人，都被擯棄在工廠的大門之外，隻有那些最能幹的人，才會被留下來。為了自己的利益，每個老板隻會留住那些最優秀的職員——那些能“把信送給加西亞”的人。
我認識一個十分聰明的人，但是卻缺乏自己獨立創業的能力，對他人來說也沒有絲毫價值，因為他總是偏執地懷疑自己的老板在壓榨他，或者有壓榨他的意圖。他既沒有能力指揮他人，也沒有勇氣接受他人的指揮。如果你讓他“送封信給加西亞”，他的回答極有可能是：“你自己去吧。”
我知道，與那些四肢殘缺的人相比，這種思想不健全的人是不值得同情的。相反，我們應該對那些用畢生精力去經營一家大企業的人表示同情和敬意：他們不會因為下班的鈴聲而放下工作。他們因為努力去使那些漫不經心、拖拖拉拉、被動偷懶、不知感恩的員工有一份工作而日增白發。許多員工不願意想一想，如果沒有老板們付出的努力和心血，他們將挨餓和無家可歸。
我是否說得太嚴重了?不過，即使整個世界變成一座貧民窟，我也要為成功者說幾句公道話——他們承受了巨大的壓力，導引眾人的力量，終於取得了成功。但是他們從成功中又得到了什麽呢？一片空虛，除了食物和衣服以外，一無所有。
我曾為了一日三餐而為他人工作，也曾當過老板，我深知兩方麵的種種酸甜苦辣。貧窮是不好的，貧苦是不值得讚美的，衣衫襤縷更不值得驕傲；但並非所有的老板都是貪婪者、專橫者，就像並非所有的人都是善良者一樣。
我欽佩那些無論老板是否在辦公室都努力工作的人，我敬佩那些能夠把信交給加西亞的人。他們靜靜地把信拿去，不會提任何愚笨的問題，更不會隨手把信丟進水溝裏，而是全力以赴地將信送到。這種人永遠不會被解雇，也永遠不必為了要求加薪而罷工。
文明，就是孜孜不倦地尋找這種人才的一段長久過程。
這種人無論有什麽樣的願望都能夠實現。在每個城市、村莊、鄉鎮，以及每個辦公室、商店、工廠，他們都會受到歡迎。世界上極需這種人才，這種能夠把信送給加西亞的人。 誰將把信送給加西亞？！
