Adams] SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 127 



Truck owners are likewise the community's regular bootleggers, 

 bringing in wine from Flagstaff. Since trucks are always bought 

 on time, they represent an investment which must be exploited in 

 order to pay for themselves. Some traders believe that three-forths 

 of the trucks on the Navaho Reservation are paid for out of their own 

 earnings in bootlegging and "taxi" service. 



Money leinding is more or less a monopoly of Shonto's tribal council- 

 man, the only member of the community other than school employees 

 who has any amount of accumulated cash (wliich he keeps in a trunk 

 in his hogan). Jewelry and livestock are taken as collateral. In- 

 terest rates are variously described as from 25 to 50 percent. Actual 

 extent of the councilman's money-lending activities and income is 

 unknown. 



The total of all native enterprise — livestock, agriculture, craftwork, 

 and miscellaneous professional and commercial activities — added up 

 to 21.9 percent of Shonto's total income in 1955. In other words 

 what was virtually the entire economic base a generation ago (see 

 Luomala, 1938, p. 56) today contributes only slightly more than one- 

 fifth of all Navaho income. The complex of activities involved, how- 

 ever, remains basic in the economic scheme of Navahos themselves 

 (see chart C, p. 148). 



LOCAL WAGEWOEK 



Wage opportunities in Shonto community are few as compared with 

 more developed portions of the Navaho Reservation (see table 27). 

 Regular sources of employment are Shonto School, Shonto Trading 

 Post, and Navajo National Monument. In 1955, 15 men and 2 women 

 were employed within the community, 8 of them on a permanent or 

 seasonal basis and the remainder on temporary jobs. Their total 

 wage earnings were $20,324, equal to 12.3 percent of all Shonto in- 

 come and more than one-third of all locally derived income (tables 

 18, 21 and 22) . Sources and duration of local wage jobs are shown 

 in chart A, page 142. 



Shonto School employs two Navaho men and one woman through- 

 out the year, plus one additional man and one woman throughout the 

 school year (see "Community School," pp. 85-86). These employees 

 serve as interpreters, dormitory supervisors, cooks, and maintenance 

 crew. Most individuals double in two capacities. Qualification for 

 school employment involves exceptional education and a fluent com- 

 mand of English. Average salary of the school's full-time employees 

 is $3,400. 



Shonto Trading Post employs one Navaho helper throughout the 

 year, at a salary of $30.00 a week. From 1950 until late in 1956 the 

 job was held continuously by a single individual, a long-haired and 

 non-English-speaker. Shonto Trading Post is believed to be tlie only 

 store on the entire Navaho Reservation employing a "clerk" who does 



