280 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 188 



isfied by others, thereby increasing his area of competition with 

 town merchants. To this end he discourages the circulation of any 

 sort of advertising material in the community. 



Like many modern traders, Shonto's owner is generally reluctant 

 to introduce new and improved products (in marked contrast to 

 early Navaho traders — see Sanders et al., 1953, p. 233; Underbill, 

 1056, p. 179). Regular salesmen from the wholesale houses of Flag- 

 staff and FaiTnington assert that it is all they can do to persuade 

 their trading post customers to stock new items and lines even on a 

 trial basis. "Navvies like everything just so ; changing around upsets 

 them" is the rationale offered for this policy. 



The fmictions of the trader in promoting and encouraging wage 

 work do not in practice conflict with his need to limit Navaho mobil- 

 ity. In railroad way labor, he has discovered the ideal compromise 

 between the two objectives. Everything about the structure of rail- 

 road work exactly suits the purposes of the trader. First, he himself 

 is the oflicially designated recruiter and benefit agent, so that to that 

 extent Navalio dependence on tlie store is not only furthered but insti- 

 tutionalized (see "Railroad Work," pp. 129-133) . Secondly, Navahos 

 are employed in large gangs and in remote areas, so that the actual 

 work situation involves an absolute minimum of culture contact, and 

 also affords few opportunities to spend earnings (see "Points of 

 Contact," pp. 248-263) . Thirdly, the work (unlike agricultural labor) 

 involves men only; the wives and families are left behind more or 

 less under the trader's care, and draw credit against the worker's 

 wages. Finally, the trader's capacity as claims agent furnishes him 

 officially and legally with advance information about unemployment 

 compensation which enables him to practice credit saturation to the 

 full. 



As Shonto's trader once remarked, the fact that he actually gets 

 paid (at 50 cents per claim affidavit) for discharging his duties as 

 claims agent seems almost too good to be true, since he would be quite 

 willing to pay for the same privileges. There can be no doubt that 

 the overwlielming preponderance of railroad work over all other 

 wage labor, not only at Shonto (table 21, p. 137) but throughout the 

 Navaho Reservation (see Young, 1955, p. 65), is due in large measure 

 to the eagerness and persistence with which traders have promoted 

 this type of employment for their clientele. 



Shonto's trader is thoroughly selective in his promotion of wage 

 work. He does not encourage his clients to leave the reservation in 

 whole family groups, nor to migrate to areas where they will come 

 into intensive contact with White society and culture. In spite of 

 his supposed cooperation with the State Employment Service field 

 office at Tuba City (see "Ancillary Functions for Whites," pp. 227- 

 229) , in actual fact the trader, along with nearly all his neighbors, con- 



