284 BUREAU OF AJNIERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 188 



OTHEE CONTACT AGENCIES 



Slionto's trader more or less openly disparages the activities of 

 individuals or contact agencies which seek to promote Navaho cul- 

 ture change for other than material purposes. Primarily involved 

 in this category are missionaries and law enforcement agencies. It 

 is implied that these individuals pervert the American ideal, which 

 is simply the promotion of material welfare without disturbing moral 

 and spiritual values. The suggestion is likely to be given that mis- 

 sionaries and their ilk are simply individual cranks or crooks, deviant 

 from the norms of their own society. 



"There's missionaries and missionaries," as traders have observed. 

 Relations with evangelistic missionaries such as the one who operated 

 at Shonto (see "Religion and Ritual," pp. 70-74) are likely to be par- 

 ticularly guarded and suspicious, especially in the presence of Nava- 

 hos. Missionaries who offer welfare programs of one sort and another 

 and who show a healthier regard for the blessings of this world will 

 usually be found to maintain much more cordial relations with their 

 trader neighbors. 



THE TBADING POST 



Among all the agents of the White world, it is the trader, accord- 

 ing to his own view of matters, who best understands the Navahos 

 and has their interests most at heart. He alone successfully bridges 

 the gap between the two societies and cultures; therefore he knows 

 best of all "what's good for the Navaho." Individual Navahos should 

 leave the management of their cross-cultural relations in his hands. 

 It is part of his moral duty to protect Navahos against the disruptive 

 influences of the outside world — to see that their material standard 

 of living is raised to its highest point without threatening traditional 

 social and cultural values. In cases of actual culture conflict he is on 

 the Navahos' side. 



Shonto's trader certainly believes himself and his fellow traders 

 to be the truest and most dedicated "friends of the Indian" in the 

 whole fabric of intercultural relations. This belief is frequently 

 reiterated for the benefit of the Navaho community. By way of illus- 

 trating his special sympathy with Navaho interests, the trader makes 

 it a point to wink at and even tacitly encourage such officially de- 

 plored Navaho practices as plural marriage, private revenge, and 

 even tulapai making (cf . "Native Commercial and Professional Enter- 

 prise," pp. 125-127) , while visibly disparaging and impeding the activ- 

 ities of visionary "do-gooders" and "reformers" such as the missionary 

 and the forces of Tribal Statute. 



