110 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 188 



complex is the fact that railroad employment directly and indirectly 

 contributes just over half of the community's entire annual income, 

 or more than four times as much as any other single source of 

 livelihood. 



In the curious complex of modern Navaho economics, this does not 

 mean that Shonto's energies are oriented chiefly toward railroad work, 

 or even that the community regards railroad work as its main source 

 of subsistence. The psychological value, which means in general the 

 prestige value, of different productive pursuits hews closely to estab- 

 lished tradition, and often bears little resemblance to their actual eco- 

 nomic return. In its own eyes, Shonto is undoubtedly a largely self- 

 sufficient subsistence community, which voluntarily supplements its 

 income and achieves a higher material standard of living through 

 seasonal wage work. 



In Shonto's scheme of things traditional economic pursuits — sub- 

 sistence agriculture and livestock, and the practice of esoteric skills — 

 come first, forming the necessary subsistence base of nearly every 

 household and residence group irrespective of their monetary value 

 (cf. Kluckhohn and Leighton, 1946, p. 20; Roessel, 1951, pp. 68, 90). 

 The role of wage work is subsidiary and supplementary. It is seldom 

 allowed to interfere with more traditional pursuits and is not 

 in itself considered a satisfactory substitute for them by most 

 of Shonto's inhabitants. In other words, in Shonto's present-day 

 economy a clear-cut distinction can be drawn between basic and sup- 

 plementary economic activities. The former, consisting of those 

 traditional pursuits which were once the community's entire economic 

 base, have served to establish a traditional standard of living which 

 still dominates economic thinking. The latter, consisting of economic 

 opportunities brought about by contact with White culture and society, 

 serve in large measure to establish the community's actual day-to-day 

 level of living. 



An index of the predominance of basic over supplementary pur- 

 suits is the fact that Shonto's Navahos undoubtedly continue to con- 

 ceive of all economic life in seasonal and cyclic terms (see "The Eco- 

 nomic Cycle," p. 141). Hence, while native resources are exploited to 

 full practical potential, Shonto's wage earnings consistently fall far 

 short even of their immediate potential. Railroad work for nearly all 

 men is limited to seasonal extra-gang employment (see p. 114), 

 although numerous permanent section gang opportunities are avail- 

 able every year. It is virtually impossible to recruit any number of 

 men for any wage work during the seasons of planting, shearing, 

 harvesting, or lamb sales. At other seasons there is consistent em- 



