THE  POSTAL  SAVINGS  BANK  ACT

39

and  declared  purpose  of  the  proposed  legislation.
Nor  could  such  a  power  be  brought  by  implication ­
  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  individual ­
  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  implied ­
  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  subject ­
  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  commerce.” ­
 25
24  Ibid.,  March  3,  1910,  p.  2689.
25  Ibid.,  pp.  2687,  2688.