Adams] SHONTO : ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 273 



introduction and use of trucks, however, territorial monopoly alone is 

 no longer sufficient to insure a monopoly of trade. In these circum- 

 stances, as noted earlier ("Market Control," pp. 169-170), Shonto and 

 many other trading posts have developed the technique of credit satu- 

 ration as an effective device to control the consumer market (see also 

 Kluckliohn and Leighton, 1946, p. 39). 



The most direct way to eliminate competition, however, is to dis- 

 courage and impede mobility on the part of the clientele. Shonto's 

 trader is able to accomplish this in a variety of ways. Most signifi- 

 cantly, he discourages in every way possible the purchase and use of 

 automobiles, both by precept and action. He is the only credit refer- 

 ence whom Shonto Navahos can furnish, and he has on several occa- 

 sions given unsatisfactory references when consulted by Flagstaff 

 auto dealers (see "Ancillary Functions for Whites," pp. 227-229) . He 

 has also and repeatedly refused to lend money for the purchase of 

 cars or to meet payments on them, even to avoid repossesssion. Al- 

 though required by his lease agreement to sell gasoline, he re-orders 

 so tardily and infrequently that the tank is empty, or reputedly so, 

 a great deal of the time. Gasoline, moreover, is sold only on strictly 

 cash terms. 



The trader also discourages the use of cars by precept. He dwells 

 on the uncertainty and especially the expense of operating them (both 

 considerable in the Navaho Country), asserting that he would not 

 have one himself if he did not need it to go in and out of town. He 

 has even been known to state that the store truck is his biggest operat- 

 ing expense, and "the reason I don't make any more money." He 

 can and does also point to the evil moral influence of the automobile : 

 the fact, popularly alleged by traders, that most of the pickups are 

 OAvned by bootleggers and drunkards (see "Native Commercial and 

 Professional Enterprise," pp. 125-127) . Similar sentiments regarding 

 the automobile were often voiced by the old country storekeeper during 

 the last stages of his losing competition with town merchants (see 

 Carson, 1954). 



Through his complex of ancillary functions Shonto's trader has 

 various other opportunities to impede and minimize competition. 

 He makes it a regular policy to intercept and eliminate competitive 

 advertising, by removing from the mails and destroying brochures 

 and even mail-order catalogues. He also refuses to assist or to post 

 orders to mail-order houses. Although it has often been requested, 

 he will not allow Shonto residents to listen to Navaho-language 

 broadcasts on the store radio, because they advertise low prices offered 

 by town merchants. 



Finally, as a source of information about the White world in gen- 

 eral, tlie trader is often able to disparage his competitors with little 

 fear of rebuttal. Pie is particularly fond of quoting Shonto flour 



