Adams] SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 225 



in operation so that this is seldom necessary. However, it is still 

 often up to the trader to arrange transportation to the hospital, and 

 it is almost always necessary for him to put up the $3 required to pay 

 for the trip.^^ 



The trader at Shonto usually tries to facilitate the admission of 

 local residents to the hospital by calling in advance to report their 

 impending arrival and condition. He has also, on occasion, arranged 

 to have his Navaho neighbors sent to the medical center at Fort De- 

 fiance for eye treatment and glasses, and in one or two instances has 

 spotted active tuberculars and referred them to the hospital for sana- 

 torium treatment. 



Among the benefits obtainable through Shonto Trading Post must 

 be included police action, though not protection. As noted earlier 

 ("Law and Order," pp. 68-74) the law enforcement situation on the 

 western Navaho Reservation is such that the action of the police at 

 Shonto can only be punitive rather than protective. Nevertheless 

 police action can be and sometimes is deliberately invoked as a retalia- 

 tory measure by Shonto Navahos. In such cases almost without ex- 

 ception they ask the trader to call the police for them and to back up 

 their complaint. 



PEOTECTIVE AGENCY 



In certain respects Shonto Navahos have come to look to the trading 

 post to protect them from external threats (cf. especially Kluckhohn 

 and Leighton, 1946, p. 79) . It may be said that insofar as there is 

 potential conflict or disharmony between Navaho traditions and the 

 conditions of Wliite life, it is often up to the trading post to reconcile 

 or to forestall it. 



The most immediate and significant protection afforded by nearly 

 any trading post to its Navaho clientele is financial protection against 

 the vicissitudes of a seasonal semisubsistance economy. This activity 

 has been described earlier (see "Credit," pp. 108-109). In a more 

 general sense, however, it is the function of the store to intervene be- 

 tween Navahos and other, sometimes coercive. White agencies. 



In a sense, Shonto Trading Post protects its clientele by concealing 

 information about them which is potentially detrimental to their wel- 

 fare. Examples of this type are nmnerous. For instance, large flocks 

 of sheep are thought to benefit the trader as much as the Navaho 

 owners, and it is expected that the trader will keep to himself his 

 knowledge that many Shonto flocks are considerably over permitted 

 range capacities (see "Livestock," pp. 111-120). In referring or rec- 

 ommending men for jobs, the trader habitually conceals from prospec- 

 tive employers any information which might be detrimental to employ- 



s' The Tuba City hospital ostensibly operates an ambulance, but during 10 years it has 

 never been despatched to Shonto despite two fatal and two near-fatal auto wrecks and 

 several serious riding accidents. 



