278 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BnU. 188 



cant names only his or her own personal resources (instead of all 

 those of the household as required by law), but at the same time lists 

 all the members of the residence group as partial dependents. 



Because of the scarcity of overnight accommodations, casework- 

 ers for the Nava-Hopi Unit of the State Department of Public Wel- 

 fare, like many other travelers in the Navaho Country, were often 

 forced to accept the hospitality of traders while making their rounds 

 of contacts. The inherent advantages in the role of host were ex- 

 ploited to the full by numerous traders, who tried to suggest in various 

 ways that they would be amply repaid for their hospitality if certain 

 claimants were certified as eligible for relief. One caseworker was 

 heard to say that he would rather sleep on the ground, or drive a 

 hundred miles to the nearest hotel, than have to spend his evenings 

 continually listening to traders pleading on behalf of erstwhile relief 

 cases. At the present time the State government, following the Rail- 

 road Retirement Board, has become so suspicious of the activity of 

 traders that it no longer allows its caseworkers to accept their 

 hospitality. 



Another area in which the activities of Shonto's trader sometimes 

 exceed the expectations of Ms clientele is in his function as a public 

 scribe. Letters written to absent wageworkers on behalf of their 

 families will sometimes be found to contain gratuitous passages of 

 sage advice such as to stay on the job, not to spend too much money 

 off the reservation, and to send home a money order as soon as pos- 

 sible. Recipients of such letters have undoubtedly come to recognize 

 the trader's special touch in these matters. 



DEPENDENCE ON THE TBADINQ POST 



All of the activities so far mentioned contribute their part to Nav- 

 aho economic dependence on the trading post. Together, however, 

 they constitute only one aspect of the condition of dependence which 

 the trader consciously or unconsciously strives to create and to per- 

 petuate. Just as many modem businesses find that it is safer and 

 easier to meet competition by offering various services and premiums 

 rather than by lowering prices (see, e.g.. Brown and Davidson, 1953, 

 pp. 474-475; Dolva and Beckley, 1950, p. 286), so modem Shonto 

 Trading Post attempts to forestall competition from town merchants 

 by offering services which the latter cannot duplicate. Thus the whole 

 complex of ancillary functions described earlier (pp. 220-230) is sus- 

 tained by the trader, not merely because they can be made to serve the 

 interests of immediate profit, but also because in a more general way 

 they contribute to continuing Navaho dependence on the trading post. 



Many traders recall with undisguised nostalgia the "agency era" 

 prior to 1930 (see "Government Development," pp. 44-48), when the 

 trader held unchallenged sway throughout much of the Navaho Res- 



