In so far as the foregoing modifications of Socialist proposals would allow the individual to own the land that he cultivates or occupies, they do not call for further discussion here. In so far as they combine State ownership of land with individual management of cultivation, they are subject to at least all the limitations of the Single Tax. To the latter system we now turn our attention. _Inferiority of the Single Tax System_ Of the four leading elements of private ownership enumerated above, the Single Tax scheme would comprise all but one. In the words of Henry George himself: "Let the individuals who now hold it still retain, if they want to, possession of what they are pleased to call _their_ land. Let them continue to call it _their_ land. Let them buy and sell, and bequeath and devise it. We may safely leave them the shell, if we take the kernel. _It is not necessary to confiscate land; it is only necessary to confiscate rent...._ In this way the State may become the universal landlord without calling herself so, and without assuming a single new function. In form, the ownership of land would remain just as now. No owner of land need be dispossessed, and no restriction need be placed upon the amount of land that any one could hold."[32] Individuals would, therefore, still enjoy security of possession, the managerial use of land, and the revenue due to improvements. The income arising from the land itself, the economic rent, they would be obliged to hand over as a free gift to the State. As we have seen in a preceding chapter, this confiscation of rent by the State would be pure and simple robbery of the private owner. Suppose, however, that the State were willing to compensate individual proprietors with a sum equal to the present value, or the capitalised rent, of their land. In that case the only difference made to the individual would be that he could no longer invest his money in land nor profit by the increases in land values. While this would deprive some persons of advantages that they now enjoy, it would be beneficial to the majority, and to the community. Since no man would find it profitable to retain control of more land than he could use himself, the number of actual land users would be increased. The land speculator would disappear, together with the opportunity of making and losing fortunes by gambling on the changes in land values. Owing to the removal of taxation from the necessaries of life and from industry, consumers would get goods cheaper, and some stimulus would be given to production and employment. Those monopolies which derive their strength from land would become weaker and tend to disappear. Sooner or later there would probably be a considerable increase in the amount of money available for public improvements and socially beneficial institutions.