134 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



one money order while on the job; those with large families often 

 send them regularly, to a total of as much as $500. 



Credit agamst railroad work is allowed as soon as a job has been 

 secured. Limits are necessarily fairly low, since the trader has no 

 control over railroad pay, and must rely entirely on the goodwill of 

 the individual. Nevertheless the families of many railroad workers 

 live largely on credit against the latter's earnmgs while they are away. 

 Accounts receivable usually claim about 25 percent of railroad in- 

 come, or about 50 percent of that which reaches the community. 

 Some workers always send their money orders directly to the trader, 

 for application on account. 



Unerrvploy merit compensation was drawn by 49 Shonto men (80 per- 

 cent of the number of wage earners) in 1955, in a total amount of 

 $17,815. The value of such compensation was equal to about one- 

 fourth of railroad wage earnings for the same year, and 10.8 percent 

 of total community income (table 21). The average individual claim 

 came to $364, and the highest was about $700 (table 22) . 



Every family receiving unemployment compensation drew credit 

 against it. Compensation, like relief, is considered one of the most 

 secure of all credit bases, since it is received in the form of checks 

 mailed through the store (see "Book Credit," pj). 188-195) . "Railroad 

 accounts" are always limited to the amount of the biweekly check, 

 and are payable on receipt of the check. It is estimated that such 

 accounts receivable annually claim about 90 percent of Shonto's 

 income from unemployment compensation. 



OTHEE WAGEWOBK 



Income from outside wage work other than track labor plays only 

 a small and irregular part in Shonto's economy. It does not fit into 

 any seasonal pattern, and no household regularly and consistently 

 depends on it. Its role is chiefly as a last, emergency stopgap in de- 

 fault of all other resources. Each year a few individuals pick up 

 various jobs in agriculture or defense plants for a period of a few 

 weeks or months, and then return to the community. Ineligibility 

 for railroad work because of disqualification or lack of seniority is 

 the principal condition leading to wagework in other off-reservation 

 industries. 



Exclusion of nonrailroad wagework from Shonto's regular 

 economy is a development of the past 4 years. During World "War 

 II most of Shonto's men worked at the Navajo Ordnance Depot (out- 

 side Flagstaff) rather than on the railroad. Track labor was opened 

 up for the community in 1945, along with a variety of other employ- 

 ment opportunities. Particularly between 1948 and 1952 there was 

 systematic recruiting of agricultural labor in the community, under 



