"What do you mean by that?" was the quick interrogation.
"I mean that successful legislation is largely a matter of compromise."
Barry, who had been listening, now spoke firmly but with due deference.
"I don't like to hear you talk like that," he said, "it doesn't sound right."
The Congressman laughed.
"I am surprised to hear you talking in such a strain, Barry. I thought that a boy of your experience would know that life is a game of give and take. The men that come to Washington to represent their constituents simply carry out this universal law in a concrete way."
The page boy shook his head laughingly.
"Now, you 're getting too deep for me," he said. "If you go much farther I won't be able to follow you at all."
"Why, it's as plain as the nose on your face," retorted the other. "Nearly all important legislation takes the form of log-rolling. Theorists who have never gotten down to the rough-and-tumble of real life, look at log-rolling as if, it were a political crime. It is nothing of the sort. It is giving up something you don't want for something that you need very badly, and as long as there is no dishonesty in the transaction I can see no harm being done. You have got to reconcile conflicting interests, and if you do so with a good motive I think you are serving your country."