e, operation, and utility. One class of
them consists of bills of exchange drawn for the purpose of transferring
actual capital from one part of the country to another, or to anticipate
the proceeds of property actually transmitted. Bills of this description
are highly useful in the movements of trade and well deserve all the
encouragement which can rightfully be given to them. Another class is
made up of bills of exchange not drawn to transfer actual capital nor
on the credit of property transmitted, but to create fictitious capital,
partaking at once of the character of notes discounted in bank and of
bank notes in circulation, and swelling the mass of paper credits to a
vast extent in the most objectionable manner. These bills have formed
for the last few years a large proportion of what are termed the
domestic exchanges of the country, serving as the means of usurious
profit and constituting the most unsafe and precarious paper in
circulation. This species of traffic, instead of being upheld, ought
to be discountenanced by the Government and the people.

In transferring its funds from place to place the Government is on the
same footing with the private citizen and may resort to the same legal
means. It may do so through the medium of bills drawn by itself or
purchased from others; and in these operations it may, in a manner
undoubtedly constitutional and legitimate, facilitate and assist
exchanges of individuals founded on real transactions of trade. The
extent to which this may be done and the best means of effecting it
are entitled to the fullest consideration. This has been bestowed by
the Secretary of the Treasury, and his views will be submitted to you
in his report.

But it was not designed by the Constitution that the Government should
assume the management of domestic or foreign exchange. It is indeed
authorized to regulate by law the commerce between the States and to
provide a general standard of value or medium of exchange in gold and
silver, but it is not its province to aid individuals in the transfer
of their funds otherwise than through the facilities afforded by the
Post-Office Department. As justly might it be called on to provide for
the transportation of their merchandise. These are operations of trade.
They ought to be conducted by those who are interested in them in the
same manner that the incidental difficulties of other pursuits are
encountered by other classes of citizens. Such aid has not