Adams] SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 241 



vigorous enforcement of stock reduction toward the end of the 1930's 

 was the presence of Government truly felt at Shonto and neighboring 

 communities. 



On the whole, and excepting the field of commercial relations, the 

 cultural effects of Navaho- White contact from 1900 to 1940 were 

 small. They cannot be classified in terms of any of the recognized 

 patterns of response to culture contact (e.g., Redfield, Linton, and 

 Herskovits, 1936, pp. 151-152; Linton, 1940, pp. 501-502; Summer 

 Seminar on Acculturation, 1954, pp. 984-990). Relations during this 

 period can best be described as characterized by White initiative and 

 Navaho rejection in the western Navaho country. The pattern of 

 Navaho rejection was passive and perhaps even unconscious through- 

 out the first three decades, but rose to a peak of conscious and articu- 

 late resistance in the face of stock reduction at the end of the period. 



The final and current phase in Navaho-White relations began early 

 in the 1940's. As suggested above, it was probably set off by the 

 exhaustion of Navaho cultural resistance at the completion of stock 

 reduction, followed closely by the opening of a wide variety of new 

 economic fields at the outbreak of World War II. As the magnitude 

 of the new opportunity became apparent, Navahos once again took 

 the initiative in leaving the reservation to seek jobs in mines, lumber 

 camps, ammunition depots, and railroad gangs — wherever miskilled 

 labor in large numbers was needed. 



The war brought an equally important change in the "Wliite ap- 

 proach to intercultural relations. American interest was naturally 

 diverted to more immediate and pressing problems, and the expan- 

 sionist and to some extent coercive policies of the Bureau of Indian 

 Affairs during the 1930's ran their course or were dropped. There 

 was a general withdrawal of governmental influence and activity ac- 

 companying the return of Navaho initiative (see "Government De- 

 velopment," pp. 44—48). 



Acceptance of the White man's jobs apparently brought with it 

 rapid acceptance of certain other Anglo-American benefits, notably 

 schools and hospitals. All observers of the Navaho scene are agreed 

 that the war profoundly and permanently altered the nature of 

 Navaho-Wliite relations, but no one is able to fix on any one year 

 as the turning point. Educators and medical officials who believed 

 their stepped-up activity was merely brought on by wartime curtail- 

 ments of personnel and facilities found at the end of the war that it 

 actually reflected an enormous absolute increase in Navaho reliance 

 on their programs. Schools and hospitals which were half empty 

 in 1941 were full and overflowing 5 years later. 



The patterns of Navaho initiative and White withdrawal have 

 largely continued in the years since 1946 (see "Government Develop- 

 ment" and "The Outside World," pp. 44^51). Navahos continue 



