Adams] 



SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 



109 



Credit is allowed to all Slionto households (or, in a few cases, 

 individuals) excepting one or two which are considered unreliable, 

 against all predictable income. Chiefly involved are wool, lambs, 

 paychecks, and benefit checks. Credit limits vary according to the 

 predictability of the income from the trading post's point of view — 

 meaning both the total amount of income expected and the success 

 with which it can be collected. In the latter connection any income 

 in the form of checks is considered as much better security than cash 

 income, since checks are mailed through the trading post and will 

 inevitably have to be cashed there. (A general discussion of credit 

 policy at Shonto Trading Post is included in pp. 188-199.) The over- 

 all structure of Shonto's dependence upon cash, credit and merchandise 

 transactions is indicated in table 16. 



Nearly all Shonto credit is officially accounted in the name of 

 households. Individuals within the same household have separate 

 accounts (other than pawn) in only three cases. Except in in- 

 stances of specific instruction to the contrary, which are rare, all 

 members of a household including children are permitted to draw 

 against the common account. Many households have standing per- 

 mission, recognized by the trading post, to draw against the accounts 

 of other households in the same residence group ; in emergencies some 

 such arrangement is nearly always made (cf . Kluckhohn and Leighton, 

 1946, p. 57). The "debts" thus incurred are regularly adjusted at 

 the time of lamb and wool sales, when income from a single sale is 

 frequently applied on more than one account. 



SOURCES OF LIVELIHOOD 



The sources and extent of Shonto's income in 1955 are shown in 

 table 21. Distribution of income from various sources within house- 

 holds and residence groups is indicated in table 18, and averaged in 

 table 22. The most immediately notable feature of the whole economic 



Table 16. — Structure of cash, merchandise, and credit transactions at Shonto 



Trading Post 



Source of Income 



Wool sales. 



Lamb sales 



Crafts 



Miscellaneous native enter- 

 prise. 



Local jobs 



RRjobs... 



Unemployment compensation. 



Other off -reservation jobs 



Welfare 



Form of income 



rj^ cash.. 

 [}4 mdse. 

 i}4 cash.. 

 13^ mdse - 



Mdse 



Various. 



Checks 



do 



do 



Cash, checks 



Checks 



Normally 



dravm on 



credit 



Percent 

 67 



SO 



None 

 None 



60-90 

 25 

 90 



None 



Normally 

 unencum- 

 bered 



Percent 

 33 



60 



100 

 100 



10-50 



75 



10 



100 



1 



Season of 

 credit i 



Dec-May 



June-Sept 



None 



None 



All year 



May-Sept 



Dec-Apr 



None 



All year 



Season of 

 earnings > 



Apr. -June. 



Sept. 



All year. 

 Do. 



Do. 



May-Sept. 

 Dec-Apr. 

 Variable. 

 All year. 



I See Charts A and B. 



