lEypenmental  ^Legislation  21
provided  unlimited  means  for  the  drinking  of
beer,  pure  and  simple,  without  food  of  any  kind.
But  my  contention  is  that  we  must  not  proceed
in  such  matters  on  a  priori  grounds  at  all.  We
must  try.
Perhaps  it  may  be  said  that  every  new  law  is
necessarily  an  experiment,  and  affords  experience
for  its  own  improvement,  and,  if  necessary,  its
abrogation.  But  there  are  two  strong  reasons  why
an  Act  which  has  been  made  general,  and  has
come  into  general  operation,  can  seldom  serve  as
an  experiment.  Of  course,  a  great  many  Acts  of
Parliament  are  experimentally  found  to  be  mistaken, ­
  for  they  never  come  into  considerable
operation  at  all,  like  the  Acts  to  promote  registration ­
  of  titles,  not  to  mention  the  Agricultural
Holdings  Act.  Such  cases  prove  little  or  nothing,
except  the  weakness,  and  possibly  the  insincerity,  of
the  legislature.  But  if  an  Act  comes  largely  into
operation  it  is  practically  irrevocable.  Parliament
cannot  say  simply  “  as  you  were,”  and  proceed  to
a  new  and  more  hopeful  experiment.  A  social
humpty-dumpty  cannot  be  set  up  again,  j  ust  as  it
was  before,  even  by  the  Queen’s  men.  The
vested  interests  created  are  usually  too  formidable
to  be  put  aside,  and  too  expensive  to  be  bought  up.
A  good  many  years,  say  seven  or  ten,  at  the  least,
are  needed  to  develop  properly  any  important
legislative  experiment,  so  that  the  same  generation
of  statesmen  would  not  have  more  than  three  or