The composite credit of private competitive traders, based, as it is, upon actual exchange of goods and services, forms the only substance of money. The different national monetary units are merely various dilutions of this substance. It is more correct to say that there is money in each unit than it is to say that each unit is money.

It is for this reason that Gresham's law projects in the words, "bad money drives out good money," a misconception of money. Good and bad are not proper terms to apply to money. Money is invested to a greater or lesser degree in various monetary units, the distinction being quantitative and not qualitative. That units with a lesser money content are proffered by buyers rather than those of larger content is but a natural manifestation of the bargaining instinct.