THE POSTAL SAVINGS BANK ACT 
39 
and declared purpose of the proposed legislation. 
Nor could such a power be brought by implica 
tion under any power expressly conferred upon 
the Federal Government. Under the coinage 
clause, he said, Congress has the power and the 
duty to provide the country with an adequate 
circulation, but when it “has exercised that power 
and performed that duty and the money so coined 
or issued has passed into the hands of the indi 
vidual citizen, it is his private property and he 
has a right to do whatever he pleases with it.” 24 
With reference to the claim that the right to 
establish a postal savings bank system was im 
plied in the commerce clause of the Constitution, 
Senator Bailey said : “Banking is not commerce ; 
but ... if it were admitted that the banking 
business is commerce within the meaning of the 
Constitution, such an admission would not justify 
this bill, because the only commerce which is sub 
ject to Federal regulation is a commerce among 
the several States, or with Indian tribes, or with 
foreign nations. ... To receive money at the 
post office and to deposit it in a bank situated in 
the same community is not commerce at all; and 
certainly it is not interstate or foreign com 
merce.” 25 
24 Ibid., March 3, 1910, p. 2689. 
25 Ibid., pp. 2687, 2688.