The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1899-04-08
NUMBER 6.
During Jackson's Time.

Mr.. Fred Webb has very inter
esting document in his possession
# 1t is letter post-marked ever
S milionville, La, Jan. IA, 1890" an
e addressed to Fochabers, Bamf Shire
r Scotland. On the back of the lette
: envelopes were not used then) ar
e stamped the words s9water-proo
! ship-letter'. 1t was mailed here O
i Jan. "A and it reached its destins
d ton on the eed of March. Th
n paper is remarkably well preserve
and the ink used must have bee
t, very good as every letter is Del
IS fectly legible.
5. The letter was written by Mr..
e w. Greig, the father of Mr.. Arthu
: Greig, who settled here a few years
after the purchase of Louisiana by
Jefferson. Mr.. Greig lived to a
good old age, accumulated con-
siderable property and became one
! of the best known and most respected
citizens of this section. A large
number of his descendants are now
living in this parish.
The writer speaks principally Of
private matters, but concludes with
the following reference to the presi-
dental campaign which had just
come to an end by the election of
General Jackson to the presidency:
81 see by your letter that a dis
pute has arisen about the kind of
wood the staff he sent you is made
of. l only saw it once or twice
and l believe it is kind of wood
very common here called hickory.
1t does not grow in Europe. 1t is
called by the French meyer blanc
or white walnut-a very strong,
tough kind of wood. The president
elect of the United States, General
Jackson, who defeated the British
army at New Orleans, is COM
m only known as sOld Hickory
1t was given him by
stuck to him now seventeen years.
1 suppose you have seen accounts
of the commotion the whole of the
last four years. There were two
candidates before the people for
the office of president, Old Hickory,
as they call him, and the present
president, John Q. Adams. [ will
venture to say that there was hardly
a man in the union who did not
have his feelings enlisted either on
one side or the other. Son opposed
to father and brother to brother
Even the women, children and the
poor negroes had their side The
is now over and Old Hick-
Dry proved too tough-he had a
majority
From the foregoing excerpt it can
be seen that politics is not a new
thing and that people had their
favorites in those days just as they
campaign was the re-
of the United States
Bank. On one side were arrayed
Jackson and the masses and on the
other side were to be found the
bank and the other great corpora
tons. 1t seems that history is re-
peating itself and the fight of 1928
is to be fought over in 1900, but
without a Jackson the results may
be different.
seen from the following paragraph
IF Mr.. Greig's letter, were con-
ronted with the low price of that
Irticle just as they are to-day. The
same old problem and just as far
rom solution as it was seventy
years ago:
''Our country has been quite
for the last few years
n consequence of the low price of
cotton. Our planters have been
to abandon it and COM
hence raising cane, the manufac-
uring of which into sugar is very
expensive at the commencement"
Mr.. Derneville Olivier, aged
,bout IS years, died at his home
lear ST. Martinville last Thursday.
Mr. Olivier was born in ST. Martin
parish and lived there all his life.
He was a man of integrity and en-
Dyed the respect of all who knew
A.