228 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



with labor recruiting have already been mentioned (see "Employ- 

 ment Agency," pp. 217-218). In a more general sense it is also true 



< hat Government agents frequently ask the trader to speak on behalf of 

 their programs and to explain and publicize them through their day- 

 to-day relations with Navahos. All traders are expected to display 

 miscellaneous health, school, and livestock posters on their bulletin 

 boards, as requested by interested agencies. The Shonto missionary 

 regularly employed the store bulletin board to announce and advertise 

 his own meetings and services. 



Its frequent and predictable contact with all or nearly all mem- 

 bers of the community (see "Frequency of Shopping," pp. 201-204) 

 makes the Navaho trading post invaluable as a distribution agency. 

 Several activities of Shonto Trading Post as a distributor were men- 

 tioned earlier ("Benefit Agent," pp. 224-225) , notably the distribution 

 of seedlings and seed for the Indian Bureau, of powdered milk for the 

 Department of Agriculture, and of emergency relief rations for the 

 Navaho tribe. Most of all, outside institutions and especially Gov- 

 ernment agencies rely on the trader to disseminate information, by 

 word of mouth and through posted notices. 



Except in highly formalized situations. Government agencies sel- 

 dom if ever make use of the mails in communication with Navahos. 



(It may take a letter up to a week to reach Shonto from Tuba City.) 

 The telephone, as noted earlier, is infinitely more effective. The hos- 

 pital, court, and other agencies, and even Shonto school, characteris- 

 tically get in touch with individual Navahos on all occasions by 



elaying messages through the trader. Even when Government or 

 State officials visit the community in person, they normally come only 

 to Shonto Trading Post and often find it necessary to employ the 

 trader as interpreter. 



Most of all, the trader throughout the reservation is generally 

 recognized as the only consistently reliable source of information 

 concerning his district and its inhabitants (see Coolidge and Cool- 

 idge, 1930, p. 68, and Luomala, 1938, p. 6). He is widely conceded 

 by his White neighbors to be the only one who really knows his Nava- 

 hos personally, and as such he is sought out for every kind of detail 

 which may be required by administrative agency. From month to 

 month Shonto Trading Post is called upon, by mail, telephone, and 

 in person, to supply such things as credit references to Flagstaff auto 

 dealers, verification of relief qualifications to the State Department 

 of Public Welfare, job experience records to the Railroad Retirement 

 Board, character references to prospective reservation employers, 

 genealogical data and vital statistics to the school, information on 

 individual whereabouts to the court, and even case histories to the 

 hospital. The trading post, in other words, is the primary source 



