A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from December 12, 2012
“If there’s anything a public servant hates to do it’s something for the public”

“If there’s anything a public servant hates to do it’s something for the public” is a popular cynical remark about the self-interest of “public servants.”  “If ther’s anything a public servant hates t’ do it’s somethin’ for the public” was said in February 1911 by the “Abe Martin” comic strip character, created by Frank McKinney (“Kin”) Hubbard (1868-1930). The quotation has been included in many quotation collections.
 
   
Wikipedia: Kin Hubbard
Frank McKinney Hubbard (born 1 September 1868 in Bellefontaine, Ohio - died: 26 December 1930 in Indianapolis, Indiana) was an American cartoonist, humorist, and journalist better known by his pen name “Kin” Hubbard.
 
He was creator of the cartoon “Abe Martin of Brown County” which ran in U.S. newspapers from 1904 until his death in 1930, and was the originator of many political quips that remain in use. North American humorist Will Rogers reportedly declared Kin to be “America’s greatest humorist.”
 
Chronicling America
28 February 1911, San Francisco (CA) Call, “Abe Martin” comic strip, pg. 18, col. 4:
If ther’s anything a public servant hates t’ do it’s somethin’ for the public.
 
Google Books
The Modern Handbook of Humor
By Ralph Louis Woods
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
1967
Pg. 118:
If there’s anything a public servant hates to do it’s something for the public.
Kin Hubbard
 
Google News Archive
4 March 1973, The Ledger (Lakeland, FL), “Your Public Servants,”  pg. 6A, col. 1:
It was humorist Kin Hubbard who observed that if there’s anything a public servant hates to do, it’s something for the public.
 
He must have had the Florida Public Service Commission in mind.
 
Google Books
The Peter Prescription:
How to be creative, confident & competent

By Laurence J. Peter
New York, NY: Morrow
1974, ©1972
Pg. 48:
If there’s anything a public servant hates to do it’s something for the public.
— K. HUBBARD
 
PublicNet
A SELFLESS SERVICE?
Features: October 3rd, 2008
By Faizal Farook and Nicola Hughes
(...)
The American humorist Kin Hubbard wrote that ‘if there is anything that a public servant hates to do it’s something for the public’! Judging by the past 25 years of public sector reforms in the UK, it’s a view that successive governments have agreed with.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityGovernment/Law/Military/Religion /Health • Wednesday, December 12, 2012 • Permalink


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