Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1910-03-11

VI ms hiOiCy' AHc pOStIndSLcr receives
from the citizen with one hand and passe
II with the other hand over to the bank
This does not amount to borrowing money
II is both in purpose and effect merely
plan by which the Government guarantee
the depositor against all loss. A citizel
withdraws his money from the bank AM
deposits it at the post-office the Govern
ment then takes the money and redeposits i
with the bank; and the sum of that trans
action is that the citizen then holds tn,
guaranty Of the Government instead Of thu
bank. and the bank is answerable to tn,
Government instead of to the citizen. But
Mr.. President, even if by any stretch O
the imagination this could be considered
borrowing money on the credit of thu
United States, it would still be unauthor
lied by the Constitution. because thai
power was conferred on Congress in ordel
to enable the Government to perform its
functions. and we were never authorized
to borrow money from individuals in order
that we might lend it to corporations.
The third clause of the Constitution, tC
which this bill has been referred, is the
one which confers on Congress- the power
to establish pOst-Offices and post-roads
and this suggestion comes entirely from
the circumstance that this money is 10 be
received at the pOst-Offices There is not
the slightest pretense that receiving de-
pOsits from the people or transferring those
deposits to the banks bears any relation
whatever to the establishment and opera
ton of a post-Office or post-road The
truth is. and the whole truth is, that the
post-ofiice has been selected to serve the
purpose OF this bill purely as matter of
convenience. If the Government we're
maintaining an internal-revenue office in
every city, town and village of the land,
with post-offices at only the more i'm
portant places, this bill would have nro-
vided for the deposit of this money with
the internal revenue collectors instead
OF with the pOstmasters. | do not FORGET,
Of course, that there has been some at
tempt to justify this new departure from
the original purpose and function of a post
office by referring to the law, passed many
years ago, which authorized the st-offices
to issue money orders. Had been Men,
Der OF the Congress which passed that law
would, perhaps. have voted against it. In
deed, 1t is practically certain that would
have done so, because it goes to the very
verge Of congressional authority and was
certain to become precedent and furnish
an argument for going still further, as has
been done in this very debate
But, sir, would not have doubted then,
and do not doubt now, that both in its
origin and in its purpose that law was a
valid one and intended in good faith to
perfect our postal system. The public had
long been in the habit of sending money
through the mails. That practice had al
ways been recognized as proper, but ii was
never considered entirely safe, and the post
office money order was devised to make
the mails serve proper and lawful pur-
pose with greater safety The bill before
US now presents very different question.
There is absolutely no pretense that the
deposit OF private money with pOstmas-
ter. and the redepOsit of ii by him in
bank, has or is intended to have, any con-
nection with the use of the mails. 1t is a
iiscal operation pure and simple, without
the remotest relation to a post-Office or a
post-road as they were understood by the
fathers when they framed our Constitution
Or as they are understood by us to-day.
The Congress of the United States has lust
as much right and power to require our
postmasters to act as commission mer-
chants as it has to require them to act as
bankers. If we can pass this law which
permits citizen to leave his money at
The post-Office and directs the postmaster
what disposition to make of it, then, sir,
we can pass another law authorizing men
70 leave their cotton or their corn, their
,attle or their horses, with the postmaster
and impose upon him the duty of caring
for them and disposing of them according
% our directions.
'IhnFn &c nj hnr ola IF L. n.
to which its advocates refer this
Dill. They declare that under the power
% coin money and regulate its value Con-
3ress has the right to keep it in circulation.
utterly deny that proposition in the sense
which they intend. The power and the
iuty OF the Government is to provide the
with an adequate circulation, and
whenever so much of that circulation has
been withdrawn, either through actual de-
'truction or through the fear of loss, as to
cave an inadequate supply. Congress pos
'esses the power, and Congress rests under
he duty, of providing an additional circu-
alton to take the place of that which has
ceased to perform the functions of money.
But, sir, when Congress has exercised that
power and performed that duty and the
money so coined or issued has passed into
he hands of the individual citizen, it is
his private property and he has a right to
DO whatever he pleases with it. He can
deposit it in bank, or lock it up in his
safe, or bury it in the ground. The Gov
ernment has no more right to determine
Tor him what he shall do with his money
Than what he shall do with his land, The
only exception is that Governments from
time immemorial have assumed the power
to limit the rate of interest on money, but
in that respect only have they assumed to
deal with citizens money under any rule
different from what they apply to his other
property,
Let me put this proposition to test
which will at once and completely expose
its fallacy, We will all agree that if Con
eress possesses the power to force money
from its hiding places and into circulation
IL has right to select its own way of exc
cutting that power. That is a constitu-
tlonal truism. II, therefore. Congress has
the power to force hidden money into the
of circulation, il can exercise that
power either by imposing penalties on the
men who hide il or by Offering premiums
to the men who will put it in circulation.
viii any Senator assert that Congress-
could make II crime for a citizen of the
United States to keep his own money in
his own wayH think not. | hardly think
that any man will stand here and declare
that the Federal Government could send a
man to prison because he kept his money
in strong box at home and refused to de-
post II in bank or even with a postmas-
ter. And yet, sir, Congress would have
that power without any shadow of doubt
II the Constitution authorizes il to force
money out Of hiding ana into circulation !;
for whether il will offer premium for do
ing so or impose a penalty for refusing to
do so is merely matter Of congressional
discretion. With the power granted, the
means are merely matter of legislative
selection, and whether we shall tempt men
by premiums to do what we want done or
terrorize them into doing il by Furnishing
their refusal is purely matter within our
own choice.
mot only, Mr. President, does this hill
assume power in Congress to exempt the
money OF a citizen from taxation by the
State, county, and municipality in which
he lives. but there is another provision in
II even more startling than that Il pro
Vldes that the wife may open an account
with the nOcfmaefor ord A.. -L-n