igations of right and
justice.[299] The Court sustained an act of Congress which set apart for
the use of the Philippine Islands, the revenue from a processing tax on
coconut oil of Philippine production, as being in pursuance of a moral
obligation to protect and promote the welfare of the people of the
Islands.[300] Curiously enough, this power was first invoked to assist
the United States to collect a debt due to it. In United States _v._
Fisher[301] the Supreme Court sustained a statute which gave the Federal
Government priority in the distribution of the estates of its insolvent
debtors. The debtor in that case was the endorser of a foreign bill of
exchange which apparently had been purchased by the United States.
Invoking the "necessary and proper" clause, Chief Justice Marshall
deduced the power to collect a debt from the power to pay its
obligations by the following reasoning: "The government is to pay the
debt of the Union, and must be authorized to use the means which appear
to itself most eligible to effect that object. It has, consequently, a
right to make remittances by bills or otherwise, and to take those
precautions which will render the transaction safe."[302]

Clause 2. _The Congress shall have Power_ * * * To borrow Money on the
credit of the United States.

The Borrowing Power

The original draft of the Constitution reported to the convention by its
Committee of Detail empowered Congress "To borrow money and emit bills
on the credit of the United States."[303] When this section was reached
in the debates, Gouverneur Morris moved to strike out the clause "and
emit bills on the credit of the United States." Madison suggested that
it might be sufficient "to prohibit the making them a tender." After a
spirited exchange of views on the subject of paper money the convention
voted, nine States to two, to delete the words "and emit bills."[304]
Nevertheless, in 1870, the Court relied in part upon this clause in
holding that Congress had authority to issue treasury notes and to make
them legal tender in satisfaction of antecedent debts.[305] When it
borrows money "on the credit of the United States" Congress creates a
binding obligation to pay the debt as stipulated and cannot thereafter
vary the terms of its agreement. A law purporting to abrogate a clause
in government bonds calling for payment in gold coin was held to
contravene this clause, although the creditor was denied a remedy in the
absence of