Show MOCCASIN mcbride mcbryde it is time that the municipal council of salt lake city corrected itself on the water question it is evident that all the fuss and fury made bythan by that body in regard to the insufficient supply of moisture in this region is so much lunacy and meaningless alderman mccornick especially who has if we recollect aright been particularly exercised in relation to the fate of lawn patches has reason to look to 4 his own sanity the cries of the dry benchers becchers ben chers which have sounded in the ears of the city authorities have no more significance than a mere wan wail of the west wind no reference to the governor although not aware of it those misguided complainants are wet bench ers we say this much because it is due to john B R mcbride that gentleman when before the house coni con committee I on territories unreeling his ball of yam in opposition to the admission of utah to z statehood hood threw something wet on mormon labors in the settling and redemption of this region he spurned the idea of this valley being a dry and arid and region when the saints came here he offered the proof his amer assertion tion was to the effect that he was here first and it was a most inviting spot he went on to describe one of the constituents of attraction raid baid he 1 I rode through grass gram so tall that it wet my moccasins with dew people who have been here since 1847 may consider that very tall talk but then it was very tall grass he was speaking of it was several feet high seeing it reached mr me brides feet as he rode on his horse perhaps his getting his feet wet gave him a cold in his head which has probably been affected ever since that dewy summer day it must be admitted that the statement is extraordinary in view of the fact that the tall grass gram and the dew became practically extinct so soon afterwards and have not of their own accord subsequently put in an appearance there is one point which mr mcbride failed to explain in connection with the original fertility and humidity of this region the rewn reason why he left the heavenly spot and never re turned to it till years after it had been settled improved and built up by the mormons cormons Mor mons here is a question for scientists to solve how is it that an originally humid climate and intrinsically damp soil out of which grass a yard high sprouted spontaneously in a short time underwent such a change the atmosphere suddenly and permanently becomes dry and rarified ramified while practically nothing can be raised from the soil without the aid of one of the most complete and extensive systems of irrigation upon the continent established by the mormons cormons Mor mons at a great cost of labor and means but perhaps there has haa been no change and the city council and the for water generally are subjects of a delusion it occurs to us however that we gave the genuine explanation under the head of mormon exclusiveness a few days ago we treated in that article upon some of mr mcbrides Mc Brides idiosyncrasies we put him on the scales in the following fashion occasionally a man can be found who has a wonderful faculty for presenting inexactitudes with a cold blooded apparent earnestness and artfully assumed sincerity that are apt to deceive e those w who 0 are am uninformed fo upon the subjects lie he professes to treat we e know of no creater greater adept in that direction than J B R mcbride he has for presenting statements made for a purpose for which he knows there is not the most slender foundation in a way that is so childlike and bland thattie that the uninformed listener to is apt to believe he is telling the truth in our opinion the gentleman has got his manner so near perfection in its operations that he is enabled to reduce misrepresentation to the status of a fine arm art it is well to be charitable and to put the best practicable construction upon the sayings and doings of others in consonance with this view we take it as correct that some men inen get into such a habit of stating falsehoods that they become grafted upon their mentalities when that is the case they begin to believe their own statements to be correct way may not this be the ewe case with J E R mcbride true this does not give him all the credit we would like to accord him under the circumstances and even that must be tendered in a modified form we axe are wining willing to grant that he himself may actually believe that he visited salt lake valley before the advent of the mormon pioneers however fallacious may be the belief but that he himself has haa the remotest confidence in his own statement about the tall grass moccasins and dew is too much for us to swallow at one gulp |