W 7 : Tin Can Tourist - Introduction to Florida History - Essay Example

W 7: Tin Can Tourist November 12, Primary sources of work such as in the production of paper failed to keep sources replenished quickly enough, resulting in a diminishing source of work for many of these families and “tin-can” tourists as they were known. Relief rolls were difficult to get on, which provided financial assistance. The recruitment of these tourists in sugar cane and citrus packing and canning industries by offering these industries governmental tax benefits and incentives may have improved their situation (Gannon, p 98).

Realistically there weren’t enough jobs for the steady influx of indigents and ‘tin-can’ tourists and though Florida attempted to regulate who could enter the State in an attempt to decrease these populations that was un-American and impractical. Efforts to expand industries and help certain populations were made with the homestead tax exemption, though the burden of taxes was shifted to consumers on a number of consumer goods providing some relief for businesses in order that they may gainfully employ as many as possible.

With the desperate times and circumstance’s it is possible that States could have possibly worked out compacts, allowing workers to be guaranteed work year round if they would travel to a nearby state, following the season such as migrant workers commonly do today. Taxing those in the highest income bracket, private individuals, and implementing a sur- tax on certain luxury items and designating the funds from these taxes to a specific relief fund for these individuals may have stemmed some of those who found themselves in Florida as homeless individuals unable to find work.

These funds could be used to build temporary housing for indigents and ‘tin-can’ tourists as well as assist them in meeting basic needs for a certain time period similar to the welfare system we have today. ReferencesGannon, M. (1993). Florida: A short history. Gainesville: University Press of Florida