BILOXI 



720 



BIMETALLISM 



To have and to hold the said goods and chat- 

 tels unto the said John Howard, his executors, 

 administrators and assigns, to his own proper 

 use and benefit forever. And I, the said James 

 Brown, do avow myself to be the true and lawful 

 owner of said goods and chattels; that I have 

 full power, good right and lawful authority to 

 dispose of said goods and chattels in manner 

 aforesaid ; and that I will warrant and defend 

 the same against the lawful claims and demands 

 of all persons whomsoever. 



In witness whereof, I, the said James Brown, 

 have hereunto set my hand this 12th day of June, 



1916 



JAMES BROWN. 



( Witness ) 



BILOXI, bilok' si, Miss., lays claim to dis- 

 tinction as a favorite watering place and as a 

 great market for sea foods. It is in Harrison 

 County, in the southeastern corner of Missis- 

 sippi, and is situated on a peninsula formed by 

 the Black Bay of Biloxi, north and east of the 

 city, and the Mississippi Sound, both parts of 

 the Gulf of Mexico. A chain of islands in the 

 Gulf creates the Sound, a quiet, protected 

 strip of water for all manner of craft sailing 

 between Biloxi and Mobile, sixty-one miles 

 northeast, and New Orleans, eighty miles west. 

 Biloxi covers an area of six square miles. It is 

 served by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad 

 and by an interurban line for a distance of 

 twenty-five miles along the coast. The popula- 

 tion was 8,049 in 1910 ; in 1914 it was 9,147. 



More shrimps ar.e caught and canned in the 

 twelve factories in Biloxi than at any other 

 city in America. The oyster production, both 

 raw and canned, is fast taking a leading place. 

 The combined oyster, fish and shrimp business 

 amounts to $2,500,000 annually. The sea food 

 industry has required three others of im- 

 portance, shipbuilding, artificial ice plants and 

 box-making. Biloxi is an attractive city. Mag- 

 nificent trees, live oaks, pines, magnolias and 

 palms, are part of an abundant vegetation. 

 Wide streets extend in shell-paved drives fifty 

 miles in length. A marble Federal building, 

 costing $175,000, was completed in 1907. 

 Beauvoir, the former house of Jefferson Davis, 

 near Biloxi, is now a home for Confederate 

 veterans. 



Across the Bay from the present city, d'lber- 

 ville established in 1699 Fort Maurepas, the 

 first French post in the Gulf region, and soon 

 after a settlement near the fort named Biloxi, 

 from the Biloxi Indians. After a fire, the first 

 site was abandoned and a permanent settlement 

 made where the present city stands. For a 

 number of years it was the seat of government 

 of the Colony of Louisiana. In 1872 it was in- 



corporated as a village and in 1896 received a 

 city charter. Water is supplied by artesian 

 wells, owned and operated by the city. H.H.R. 



BIMETALLISM, bimet'aliz'm, a monetary 

 system in which two metals, gold and silver, 

 are legal tender for any amount. The ratio 

 of value between the two metals, under such 

 a system, is fixed either by law, if the system 



CHART OF SILVER VALUES 

 In 1873 the silver in a silver dollar of United 

 States coinage was worth 100 cents in gold. The 

 line in the chart shows its depreciation until 

 1915. Later its value increased to nearly 75 

 cents. The dot indicates value on June 1, 1916. 



is confined to a single country, or by inter- 

 national agreement if it applies to several 

 nations. The supporters of bimetallism argue 

 that a fixed legal ratio will prevent nearly all 

 fluctuation in the prices or market 'values of the 

 two metals. If this were true, the prices of 

 commodities would become practically stable 

 and foreign exchange would be greatly simpli- 

 fied, whether other countries used a single or a 

 double standard. 



The opponents of bimetallism, who now in- 

 clude most economists, assert that the argu- 

 ments for such a system are false. They 

 claim, apparently with justice, that the cheaper 

 metal will drive the dearer from use (see 

 GRESHAM'S LAW). An example taken from 

 history will make their point clear. In the 

 United States in 1896 the Democratic party 

 platform demanded the "free and unlimited 

 coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1." As a 

 matter of fact, silver in 1896 was not worth 

 16 to 1, and its market price later fell to 25 

 and even 30 to 1 ; that is, it required thirty 

 ounces of silver to buy one ounce of gold. If 

 the Democrats had won the election of 1896, 

 free silver coinage would probably have been 

 established. Before many years all the money 

 of the country would have been silver, for 

 fifty cents worth of silver, bought in the open 

 market, could then have been exchanged at the 

 mint for a coin stamped one dollar. Gold 

 would have been withdrawn from circulation, 

 for a dollar's worth of gold could have been 

 exchanged intrinsically for two dollars in silver. 

 The opponents of bimetallism further argued 

 that even if the system were logical, and if both 

 metals remained in circulation, there was no 

 proof that the fluctuating prices of commodities 



