Wednesday, February 14, 2007

February 15- Flag Day and Remember the Maine

Happy Flag Day to all my Canadian friends.

This is also the day that marks the event that triggers the Spanish-American War: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Maine. During this war, President McKinley sent a man named Rowan to Cuba to establish contact with General Garcia, leader of the insurgents. The means by which Rowan accomplished this is briefly chronicled in Elbert Hubbard's "A Message to Garcia", written in 1899.

Documenting Rowan's trip is, in fact, not the purpose of Hubbard's essay. The purpose is to either celebrate 10% or belittle the other 90% of people who work for a living. He basically wrote the essay in order to bemoan the incredible (to him) lack of self-motivation he saw in the "average man". In fact, he suggested that the only way you will get useful work out of such men was through the judicial application of a "thick-soled No. 9 boot." Such was management philosophy in 1899.

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