Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 01 - Little Journeys to the Homes of Good Men and Great by Elbert Hubbard
page 18 of 261 (06%)
page 18 of 261 (06%)
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It came to me like a flash! Yes, the boy is right, the hero is the man
who does the thing--does his work--carries the message. I got up from the table and wrote "A Message to Garcia." I thought so little of it that we ran it in without a heading. The edition went out, and soon orders began to come for extra March "Philistines," a dozen, fifty, a hundred; and when the American News Company ordered a thousand I asked one of my helpers which article it was that had stirred things up. "It's that stuff about Garcia," he said. The next day a telegram came from George H. Daniels, of the New York Central Railroad, thus: "Give price on one hundred thousand Rowan article in pamphlet form--Empire State Express advertisement on back--also state how soon can ship." I replied giving price and stated we could supply the pamphlets in two years. Our facilities were small, and a hundred thousand pamphlets looked like an awful undertaking. The result was that I gave Mr. Daniels permission to reprint the article in his own way. He issued it in booklet form in editions of one hundred thousand each. Five editions were sent out, and then he got out an edition of half a million. Two or three of these half-million lots were sent out by Mr. Daniels, and in addition the article was reprinted in over two hundred magazines and newspapers. It has been translated into eleven languages, and been given a total circulation of over twenty-two million copies. It has attained, I believe, a larger circulation in the |
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