Adams] SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 131 



along a small suitcase full of clothing and personal effects.) Shonto 

 Trading Post nearly always transports its own railroad workers to 

 Winslow ill the store's stake-body truck. Transportation is paid for 

 on delivery by the R.K.B. at $4.00 a head. After processing in the 

 board's offices, men are shipped out to their jobs on work trains the 

 same night. 



TJ nem'ployment comfensation is a regular concomitant of all rail- 

 road work, and accounts to a large extent for Shonto's overwhelming 

 preference for it. The Railroad Eetirement Board levies a payroll 

 tax upon all railroads to support its retirement fimd, from which 

 unemployment compensation is paid to qualified applicants. The 

 seasonal nature of way maintenance is such that nearly all track 

 laborers are eligible for compensation during part of every year; at 

 Shonto such compensation is an anticipated and necessary part of 

 each year's income. 



Any Shonto man who has earned more than $400 (recently raised to 

 $500) during any calendar year is entitled to compensation for every 

 day of unemployment during the following fiscal, or "benefit" year. 

 Ill other words a man earning $400 in 1954 was entitled to compensa- 

 tion, if unemployed, at any time between July 1, 1955 and June 30, 

 1956. Benefits are paid at a rate ranging from $3.50 to $8.50 for 

 each day of unemployment, depending on wages earned during the 

 previous calendar year. Total compensation is lunited to an amount 

 equal to twice the previous year's wages (recently reduced by half, to 

 an amount equal to wage earnings) . In practice, however, at Shonto 

 and throughout the Navaho Eeservation, income from unemploy- 

 ment compensation seldom totals more than one-third of railroad wage 

 earnings (see tables 21 and 26). This is due to the fact that work is 

 available — and compensation therefore unavailable — during a large 

 part of the year. 



Some time after the beginning of each benefit year (July 1), the 

 Eailroad Eetirement Board sets an opening date for general eligibility 

 for compensation. This may occur at any time from July until late 

 fall depending upon a sufficient decline in the labor demand. Once 

 eligibility is opened up all of Shonto's railroad workers, subject to 

 certain qualifications, are entitled to continuous compensation until 

 they are called to work, take another job, or exhaust their financial 

 eligibility. Men who leave work voluntarily and not because of job 

 termination are not eligible for compensation until they have been 

 home for 30 days. Likewise, men who refuse a call to work forfeit 

 their eligibility for 30 days. Barring forfeitures of this sort, eligi- 

 bility continues until manpower demand becomes sufficiently general 

 to justify termination of all benefits, usually in late spring. 



Continuing eligibility is established by signing a weekly affidavit 

 expressing willingness to work and unavailability of work. These 



