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mixed gangs Navahos are always grouped in large numbers. How- 

 ever, each year a few men manage to catch on with section gangs, 

 where personnel turnover is always high. In such cases they serve 

 individually, and are required to speak English or Spanish. 



The Santa Fe, Union Pacific, and Denver & Rio Grande Western 

 Railroads all rely chiefly on Navahos for way labor. Their needs 

 are supplied through the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (the oldest 

 of all Federal labor agencies), which regulates railroad employ- 

 ment of every kind. For employment purposes the Navaho Reser- 

 vation per se is treated as a discrete labor pool, and is under the 

 jurisdiction of special Railroad Retirement Board branch offices in 

 Gallup, N. Mex., and Winslow, Ariz. The reservation has been car- 

 teled geographically among the three railroads concerned, labor for 

 each being recruited from a definite area. Shonto and surrounding 

 communities are in the territory allocated to the Santa Fe, under 

 jurisdiction of the Winslow office of the Railroad Retirement Board 

 (familiarly known as the R.R.B.) . 



Shonto's trader, like nearly all other traders, is officially desig- 

 nated as a Claims Agent for the Railroad Retirement Board. In 

 this role he is the contact agency through which all way labor is 

 recruited from the community. The complicated mechanics of re- 

 cruitment and employment are generally as follows: 



Initially, the railroad notifies the R.R.B. of its impending man- 

 power needs, usually 1 to 2 weeks in advance of actual recruitment. 

 The draft required is then allocated by the board among agencies 

 (i.e., trading posts) under its jurisdiction. In normal practice, 15 

 men are called from each trading post selected, selection of the trading 

 posts themselves being a matter of rotation. Considerable preference, 

 however, is given to those trading posts which have most successfully 

 filled their quotas in the past. 



Men are called from each trading post on the basis of seniority 

 rating, based entirely on earnings during the previous calendar year. 

 When the trading posts and men to be called have been selected, the 

 R.R.B. telephones the trader, giving him the names of men to be 

 contacted. In the event of refusals or failure to contact, additional 

 men are to be contacted, in order of seniority, until either the 15-man 

 quota is filled or a total of 30 men has been contacted. The board 

 also informs the trader of the time and date, usually about 5 days 

 later, when men are to be delivered to the board's office in Winslow. 



Thereafter, all responsibility rests with the trader. It is his job to 

 get the word out to the community, secure the necessary quota, and 

 provide or arrange transportation. Recruitment frequently necessi- 

 tates actually driving around the community from hogan to hogan. 

 Each man, if he accepts the call, is instructed to be at the trading post 

 with his gear on the appointed day. (Railroad workers always take 



