Noi^TSr* ^^^' EASTERN CHEROKEE GROUPS — KUPFERER 239 



Qualla Cooperative members receive a dividend check based upon 

 the profits of the organization. At one meeting checks were dis- 

 tributed ranging in amounts from $2 to $60. A near- White Indian 

 boy has earned as much as $40 a week from woodcarving. An 

 industrious basketmaker earns somewhat less, for if she uses cane, 

 the material is usually purchased. It does not grow near Cherokee. 

 Two White-owned-and-managed industries are present on the 

 reservation. Saddlecraft, Inc., which manufactures moccasins and 

 a few other items, employs 49 people in the plant and 55 fireside 

 workers. This business rents an old dairy barn from the tribe, but 

 it is constructing a new building with funds lent to it by the tribe. 

 Harns Manufacturing Co., which makes quilted products and padded 

 infant accessories, is housed in a modern building which was erected 

 with tribal funds. The company has a 2i5-year lease with a renewal 

 option. At present it has 102 employees who are paid $1 per horn- 

 under a training program, of which the Federal Govermnent pays 

 part. The building is capable of housing 300 workers. Together 

 the two provide a weekly payroU of $8,000. However, all of this 

 does not go to Indian employees, as each business has a few White 

 workers. In regard to this a mother of an Indian employee asked 

 me: 



"How come White people down there get paid more than Indians?" "Well, 

 I don't know," I replied, "unless they are men who came with the plant as manage- 

 ment." "No sir," she said, "these are two White girls from Sylva and they are 

 getting $1.25 and they just got hired. I know that they can hire White if they 

 can't find Indians who can do the work, but they all oughta git [sic] paid the 

 same." 



Other people work for the Government either as Indian Bm'eau 

 employees or as seasonal employees of the Park. StiU others are 

 hired by the tribe as pohcemen, firemen, and sanitation workers. 



In addition to earned income, some Indians are recipients of public 

 welfare aid from the counties in which they live. To receive it they 

 must quahfy in one of three categories: aid to dependent children, 

 old age assistance, or aid to the permanently disabled and handi- 

 capped. For those who are not eligible for pubhc assistance, a 

 special Federal Indian welfare program is available. This service 

 is administered by two trained caseworkers who also do family 

 counsehng. The expenditures from these funds for the fiscal year 

 ending in 1960 are shown in table 6 and correspond with the tourist 

 season in amounts expended. 



Estimates of family income are most irregular. A cmrent figure 

 was set at an average of $1,662 (Anonymous, 1961); another made 

 available to the public listed the average income of rural families as 

 $600 (Cherokee Historical Association, 1960, p. 4). 



