a
reference to the clerks mentioned in A
Message to
Garcia, an
essay written by
American editor, publisher and author, Elbert
Hubbard (1856-1915). In the
essay, the reader is asked to summon any one of six clerks within call and ask him to
look in the encyclopedia and find some
information on a
given person. The
essay points out that the clerk will not simply say "Yes,
Sir," and do the
task. Conversely, he will ask "Who was he? Which encyclopedia? Where is the encyclopedia? What's the
matter with Charlie doing it?" etc., and in the end finally come back to tell you that there is no such person.