The record-union., 1894-12-24
DEVINE AND WATER.

Mr.. Trustee Devine is not fool. Were
he of that category he would be un-
worthy of notice; but Mr.. Devine is
lacking in the qualities of poor
legislator only in this, that he is an
amiable fellow and can curse an opponent
and smile withal. SO that one is never
certain that Devine is in dead earnest.
But that he is not fool is no reason for
his taking other people to be asses. He
is just foolish enough, however, to imag-
inc that his twaddle about the water con-
tract goes down with sensible people.
He has just delivered himself of a sur
felt of words from his official position in
the Board of Trustees, in which, after
amusing US with the characterization Of
"phantasmagorial scribes" applied to
writers on the local press, a pathological
squib that is not half bad, even for Mr..
Trustee Devine, he launched out into
misstatements that would be pardonable
were he what he is not. Nevertheless, it
is essential that this pyrotechnic Trustee
be called down.
Mr.. Devine probably believes-we will
not question his veracity no more than
we would his integrity, which is unchal-
lenged-that he speaks the truth when he
makes certain charges regarding the
water experiment and contract; never
theless what he says is lie in concep-
ton and utterance, and the meanest of
lies, too, because it is not even dressed in
the garb of plausibility. For instance,
Trustee Devine, who is begging the local
press to quit" to "let up'' on this water
idiocy of his, repeats, whenever he has
time between breaths, that, under the
Fish contract for clear water from sub
terranean sources, the city gives to Fish
or his assignees millions of dollars
worth of water mains, absolutely gives
the property away, parts with its posses
sion and surrenders it to stranger with
out compensation. Now, if the smiling
Devine does not know that the assertion
is lie, it is neither the fault Of the press
nor of the people who affirmed the con-
tract at the polls, despite the fact that
Devine mounted a barrel on water cleo
ton day, we are told, and spoke against
the clear water, wetting his whistle the
meanwhile with the very fluid that he
denounced as unfit for use. though a Sac
ramento-straight water faucet was at
hand that he might have utilized. But
Devine is nothing if not inconsistent.
Mr.. Devine says the RECORD UNION
makes erroneous statements concerning
the water question. 1t is not chargeable
to the RECORD UNION that Devine does
not know that statement to be lie as
we'll as the other. 1t is chargesble to his
capacity, rather his incapacity, to under
stand what he gracefully denominates
UNITED States language" But Mr.. De-
vine is not to be held to account for that
which was born with him; it is the case
of the third and fourth generation curse,
nrobably, Really, he should overhaul
his genealogical tree and find out to what
heredity.
When this erratic genius. who bobs in
a seat in the local legislature, asserts that
under the new water contract we will pay
four times as much as under present rat
ings, he uttered another lie, but, as he
does not know it is falsehood, he can
not of course. be held accountable for it.
We really think the man sincerely be-
lieves what he says to be true. MS case
rises, therefore, to the plane o. pity, and
right at Christmas tide, too.
The RECORD UNION did say that the
new water will cost the people no more
than the old, and we repeat it. With all
proper elements of cost included, we re-