BILLINGS 



718 



BILL OF HEALTH 



All particles of ivory sawdust and shavings 

 are carefully saved. They are treated with 

 various chemicals, and are molded into any 

 shape desired under enormous hydraulic pres- 

 sure. Cheap grades of billiard balls are some- 

 times made of such a composition, as are 

 many other small articles. The process of 

 manufacture is so nearly perfect that only an 

 expert can distinguish the composition from 

 the solid ivory. W.F.Z. 



Consult Modern Billiards; Daly and Harris's 

 Daly's Billiard Book. For the English game, see 

 Roberts's The Game of Billiards. 



BILLINGS, JOSH. See SHAW, HENRY 

 WHEELER. 



BILLINGS, bil'ingz, MONT., the county 

 seat of Yellowstone County, is in the south- 

 central part of the state, 238 miles east and 

 south of Helena, on the Yellowstone River 

 and on the Burlington, the Great Northern 

 and Northern Pacific railroads. The area ex- 

 ceeds two square miles. In 1910 the popula- 

 tion was 10,031; in 1.914 it had increased to 

 13,020. 



Cattle and sheep raising are extensive indus- 

 tries in a large territory surrounding Billings, 

 and from the city are shipped great consign- 

 ments of cattle, sheep and wool. It is one of 

 the most important inland wool markets in 

 the United States. In the vicinity are coal, 

 marble and limestone deposits, and among the 

 industrial establishments are railroad shops, a 

 beet-sugar factory, flour and lumber mills and 

 brickyards. The city has a county courthouse, 

 city hall and public library. 



BILL OF ATTAINDER, a bill or statute 

 declaring a person to be guilty of an offense 

 named and his property appropriated or confis- 

 cated. It is an act of a law-making body which 

 pronounces a verdict of guilt upon a man for 

 some alleged offense without giving him a legal 

 trial, or even a hearing. Under such a bill 

 a person found guilty could neither receive 

 nor transmit by inheritance, neither could he 

 testify in any court or claim any rights' or 

 legal protection. The Constitution of the 

 United States declares that no state shall pass 

 any bill of attainder, and furthermore explicitly 

 assures any accused person the right to a fair 

 and speedy trial. Bills of attainder were abol- 

 ished in England and its possessions in 1870. 

 See ATTAINDER. 



BILL OF EXCHANGE, a written order by 

 one person directed to another person, request- 

 ing him to pay to a third a certain sum of 

 money. The word person, as used in this case, 



may refer to an individual, a bank or any other 

 corporation. The writer of the bill of exchange 

 is called the drawer, or maker; the person who 

 is asked to pay the fixed sum is the drawee; 

 the person to whom the money is to be paid 

 is the payee. 



Technically, there is not the slightest differ- 

 ence between a bill of exchange and that com- 

 mercial paper called a draft. Common usage, 

 however, has in a measure established slightly- 

 different meanings; so to-day when a bill of 

 exchange is correctly referred to, it means a 

 draft drawn by a person of one country upon 

 a drawee in another country; in such case the 

 word exchange, while its ordinary meaning of 

 transfer of money remains, is also significant of 

 the value of money of one country in terms of 

 the other country's monetary unit. In ex- 

 planation of the latter statement we speak of 

 the rate of exchange between the United States 

 and England as being $4.86 for 1. Accepting 

 this view of a bill of exchange, a draft then 

 becomes an order for transfer of money be- 

 tween people of the same country. In the 

 days before the term draft became current, bills 

 of exchange were termed either foreign or 

 domestic. 



Form of a Bill of Exchange. Only in one 

 respect does the form of a bill of exchange 

 differ from the ordinary draft. Triplicate 

 copies are made in interest of security because 

 of long distances required for transmission and 

 dangers incident thereto. The first, or original 

 copy, is sent to the payee; the second is for 

 the purpose of presentation to the drawee, and 

 the third is retained in the hands of the drawer. 

 The wording of the first, or original copy, may 

 be as follows: 



$500 



New York, N. Y., Dec. 22, 1916. 

 At sight of this first of exchange (second and 

 third unpaid) pay to William Jones, or order, 

 five hundred dollars ($500), for value received, 

 and charge to the account of 



JOHN KNIGHT. 



To LESTER MORGAN, London, England. 



As soon as the drawee has honored the re- 

 quest made upon him by paying the amount 

 demanded, the other two copies of the bill of 

 exchange automatically become null and void. 



Further particulars of the laws relating to 

 bills of exchange will be found in the article 

 DRAFT. 



BILL OF HEALTH, a certificate signed by 

 port authorities, certifying the state of health 



