1899

A Message to Garcia 致加西亞的信

By Elbert Hubbard 阿爾伯特·哈伯德

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.

在所有古巴事務,有一個人在我整個的記憶中明顯突出,像近日點的火星.當西班牙和美國之間的戰役爆發後,必須要快速與起義軍的領袖聯繫.加西亞置身在古巴廣大山區的某個地方-沒人知道.郵件或電報訊息都無法傳送給他.總統必須--很快地確保他的合作。

What to do!

要怎麼辦!

Some one said to the President, "There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can."

有人對總統說,” 如果你要找適當的人,有一位叫羅文的人可以幫你找到加西亞.”

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.

羅文被找來,給他一封信送給加西亞. 那個名叫羅文的人，如何接過信，把它裝進一個油纸袋裡，封好，綁在胸口，四天後在一個暮色籠罩的夜晚，他棄扁舟上岸，消失在古巴的熱帶叢林中；三個星期之後，他成功徒步穿越了一個危機四伏的國家，把信送到了加西亞手上—這些细節我無意贅言。

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!"

我要說的重點是:麥奇利給羅文一封信,要遞送給加西亞;羅文拿了信,沒有詢問, “他在哪裡?” 像羅文這樣的人，我们應該為他塑造銅像，放在所有的大學裡，以表彰他的精神.年輕人需要的不是書本上的知識，也不是他人的種種教誨，而是敬業精神，忠誠於上级的托付，迅速採取行動，全心全意去完成任務—把信交给加西亞。

General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias.

加西亞將軍已死,但有其他的加西亞領袖.

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.

有的人苦苦經營着人数眾多的大企業，但有時候令人吃驚的是，部分員工庸庸碌碌，他们要麼没有能力，要麼根本没用心。工作上拖拖拉拉、漫不經心、三心二意似乎已成常態;且無人成功,除非不擇手段,或威脅,強迫或賄賂其他人幫助他;或許,蒙上帝恩寵,派給他一位光明的天使當他的助手.讀者閣下不妨測試一下:你現在坐在辦公室-六位職員可隨叫隨到.

Summon any one and make this request: "Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio".

召喚任一人,並做此要求:”請查百科全書, 關於科雷喬的一生,並給我精簡的備忘錄”.

Will the clerk quietly say, "Yes, sir," and go do the task?

職員會安靜地說,”是的,老闆,”然後去做事嗎?

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:

在你的生活中.他會無表情的看著你,並問下面一兩個問題:

Who was he?

他是誰?

Which encyclopedia?

那個百科全書?

Where is the encyclopedia?

那裡有百科全書?

Was I hired for that?

我是僱來做這個的嗎?

Don’t you mean Bismarck?

你不是說俾斯麥吧?

What’s the matter with Charlie doing it?

查理做有問題嗎?

Is he dead?他死了嗎?

Is there any hurry?很趕嗎?

Shan’t I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?

我拿書給你自己查好嗎?

What do you want to know for?你知道這個想做什麼?

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.

我和你賭10比1,在你回答問題後,解釋如何找資料,為何你需要,這職員會離開,找其他的職員幫忙找加西亞-然後回來告訴你找不到這個人.當然我可能睹輸,但是根據一般人的定律,我會贏.現在假如你聰明,不會對你的助手費神解釋,科雷喬的索引是C,不是K,但你會甜甜一笑說,”算了,,”然後自己去查.

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.

單獨行動的無能,心智的愚蠢,意志的薄弱,不願愉快地承擔責任,這些是讓純社會主義只能寄望未來實現的問題.假如人不為自己的事努力,那麼眾人的福利,他們又能貢獻什麼?一位大副拿著有節的棍棒似乎是有需要的;而擔心有反彈,星期六晚上則邀請員工到他的地方.

Advertise for a stenographer, and nine out of ten who apply, can neither spell nor punctuate- and do not think it necessary to.

登報找一位速記員,10人中的九個應徵者,不會拼字也不會標點-也不認為有需要具備這樣的技能.

Can such a one write a letter to Garcia?

這樣的一個人可以寫信給加西亞嗎?

"You see that bookkeeper," said the foreman to me in a large factory.

‘你看那位簿記員,’在大工廠的一位領班對我說.

"Yes, what about him?" “是,他如何呢?”

"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."

“喔,他是一位好會計師,但假如我派他到城裡辦事,他也許可以完成任務,但另一方面,他也許在路上會停在四家酒吧,等他到了大街,已經忘了被派來做什麼差事.

Can such a man be entrusted to carry a message to Garcia?

這樣的人可以讓人信任,派去送信給加西亞嗎?

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.

我們最近聽了很多,為那些’血汗工廠裡被壓迫的人’表示感傷的同情,還有’無家的流浪漢尋找誠實的僱主,’ 這些經常對於有權力的人多有微詞.

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.

都沒說到僱主,他日益變老,卻無法讓懶散做不好事的人去做聰明的工作;而他長久的耐心想要得到的幫助,卻在他背一轉就懶散不做什麼.在每一家商店和工廠,一直有除去不適任員工的程序在進行.僱主經常請走那些顯示無法促進商業利益的幫手,而僱用了其他的人.不管時機有多好,這樣的揀選持續進行,只有在時機艱困而工作機會少,這揀選會更為精簡-但出局的始終出局,不適任和沒價值的員工必須離開.

It is the survival of the fittest. Self-interest prompts every employer to keep the best- those who can carry a message to Garcia.

這是適者生存.私利會促使每位僱主用最好的人-那些可以送信給加西亞的人.

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."

我知道一個很有才氣的人,他沒有能力管理自己的事,他也完全對任何人都沒用處,因為他經常瘋狂的懷疑他的僱主對他壓迫,或是試圖壓迫他.他不能給指令;也不接受指令.如果你要他把封信送给加西亞，他極可能回答：“你自己去吧。”

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.

今晚這個人走在街上找工作,風呼嘯過他破爛的外套.認識他的人都不敢用他,因為他是一位經常不知足被炒魷魚的品牌.他是蠻不講理的,唯一能讓他印象深刻的是9號厚底靴的腳趾.

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.

當然我知道那個精神上畸形的人和身體殘障的人一樣令人同情;但在我們憐憫時,我們也流下一滴淚,給那些經營大企業的人,他們的工作時數不限於下班的吹笛聲,他們的頭髮很快變白, 努力维持那些漫不經心、拖拖拉拉、不知感激的員工, 那些员工從来不願想一想，如果没有雇主们付出的心血，他们是否將挨餓和無家可歸？

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.

我是否太過份強調這事了?也許我是; 但是，就算整個世界變成貧民窟之時，我也要為成功者說幾句同情的話——他们承受巨大的壓力，導引眾人的力量，终於獲得了成功；但他從成功中所得到了什麼呢？除了食物和衣服，其他什麼也没有。

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.

我曾經為了衣食而為他人工作，也曾經當過一些雇員的老板，我深知其中的甘苦。貧窮没有什麼優越之處，衣衫襤褸更不值得推薦；並非所有的雇主都是採取高壓手段極力壓榨員工，並且我敢說，大多數雇主都更富有美德。

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.

我敬佩的是那些不論老板在還是不在都會堅持工作的人。當你交给他一封致加西亞的信时，他會迅速地接受任務，不會問任何愚蠢的問題，更不會随手把信扔到水坑裡，而是全力以赴地把信送到。這樣的人永遠不會被解雇，也永遠不會為加薪而罷工。

文明，就是孜孜不倦地尋找這種人才的一段長久过程。

他無論有什麼願望都能够得以實現;這樣的人很少,沒有僱主可以承受讓他走的損失,。每個城市、鄉鎮、村莊，以及每個辦公室、商店、工廠，都需要他参與其中。世界呼唤這種人才——非常需要並且急需——這種能够把信送给加西亞的人。

THE END

Reference:

1.http://ah626.blog.163.com/blog/static/3295099200771171120107/