and
could not be repudiated to effectuate the monetary policies of
Congress.[1130] In a concurring opinion Justice Stone declined to join
with the majority in suggesting that "the exercise of the sovereign
power to borrow money on credit, which does not override the sovereign
immunity from suit, may nevertheless preclude or impede the exercise of
another sovereign power, to regulate the value of money; or to suggest
that although there is and can be no present cause of action upon the
repudiated gold clause, its obligation is nevertheless, in some manner
and to some extent, not stated, superior to the power to regulate the
currency which we now hold to be superior to the obligation of the
bonds."[1131]

Clause 7. _The Congress shall have Power_ * * * To establish Post
Offices and post Roads.

The Postal Power

"ESTABLISH"

The great question raised in the early days with reference to the postal
clause concerned the meaning to be given to the word "establish"--did it
confer upon Congress the power to _construct_ post offices and post
roads, or only the power to _designate_ from existing places and routes
those that should serve as post offices and post roads? As late as 1855
Justice McLean stated that this power "has generally been considered as
exhausted in the designation of roads on which the mails are to be
transported," and concluded that neither under the commerce power nor
the power to establish post roads could Congress construct a bridge over
a navigable water.[1132] A decade earlier, however, the Court, without
passing upon the validity of the original construction of the Cumberland
Road, held that being "charged, * * *, with the transportation of the
mails," Congress could enter a valid compact with the State of
Pennsylvania regarding the use and upkeep of the portion of the road
lying in that State.[1133] The debate on the question was terminated in
1876 by the decision in Kohl _v._ United States[1134] sustaining a
proceeding by the United States to appropriate a parcel of land in
Cincinnati as a site for a post office and courthouse.

POWER TO PROTECT THE MAILS

The postal powers of Congress embrace all measures necessary to insure
the safe and speedy transit and prompt delivery of the mails.[1135] And
not only are the mails under the protection of the National Government,
they are in contemplation of law its property. This principle was
recognized by the Supreme Court in 1845 in holding that