48 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



tribal council prior to 1940. As of 1956, however, there is a general 

 awareness of some, at least, of the activities of tribal government, and 

 an interest in tribal politics on the local level. Tribal Comicil con- 

 stituencies exist in each of the trading communities of the Shonto 

 Plateau. 



More important locally than tribal comicilmen are the members of 

 the District Grazmg Committee, an independent functionary of the 

 Navaho tribe which is responsible directly to its chairman and Ad- 

 visory (i.e., executive) Committee. Grazing committees took over the 

 regulation of range operations and livestock capacities when Indian 

 Bureau district supervisors were withdrawn in 1949. The committee 

 for District 2 is composed of one member each from Long House 

 Valley, Klethla Valley, and Navajo Mountain. Its membership and 

 authority are well known throughout the Shonto community. 



A significant consequence of tribal activity thus far, so far as Shonto 

 is concerned, has been an increase in law enforcement. For many years 

 the only police anywhere in the western Navaho region were at Tuba 

 City itself, and they ventured into the hinterlands only upon receipt 

 of sworn complaints. It was a famous observation for years that 

 the Tuba City jail was never locked unless it was unoccupied — to 

 prevent theft of bedding. 



The Navaho tribe assumed responsibility for law and order in 

 1948, and since that time the police force on western Navaho has been 

 doubled (to 12, for an estimated population of 8,000). Patrolmen 

 are now stationed at Kaibito and Kayenta, as well as at Tuba City. 

 One patrolman from Kaibito spends one day a week at Shonto, from 

 9 :00 a.m. until 6 :00 p.m. Federal and Arizona State Indian liquor 

 laws were repealed between 1952 and 1954, but the Navaho tribe 

 still maintains strict prohibition within the reservation, and the police 

 are occupied largely in dealing Avith liquor cases. 



The State government of Arizona has never had direct jurisdiction 

 over the Navaho Reservation, but it has nevertheless been important 

 indirectly to the Shonto community since 1948. In that year Indians 

 were made eligible for the first time for Public Assistance in the State 

 of Arizona, and an enormous Navaho caseload was added to the State 

 welfare rolls. The combination of Old Age Assistance, Aid to the 

 Blind, and Aid to Dependent Children now contributes nearly 10 

 percent of the total income of the Shonto community (see "Welfare," 

 pp. 136-137). Indians remain ineligible for General Assistance from 

 the State; it is administered on the Navaho Reservation directly by 

 the Indian Bureau. 



MISSIONS 



Prior to 1954 missionary activity had never been significant in the 

 Shonto Plateau region. The first mission anywhere in the area was 

 maintained at the little Mormon colony which preceded Tuba City, 



