White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO oe 
three such stores. The first was operated, probably during the early 
1920’s, by Juan Bautista Medina, named James by Matilda Steven- 
son, who witnessed his birth and became his godmother (M. C. Steven- 
son, 1894, pp. 1382-143). This may have been the “‘small store in the 
pueblo” noted by Halseth in 1923 (1924 a, p. 12) ‘‘where matches, 
flour, and a few other staples, can be obtained.” It proved to be an 
unprofitable venture and was abandoned. Augustin Moquino oper- 
ated a store for a short time during the 1930’s. Remijio Salas opened 
a store about 1948 and operated it for about 2 years before it, too, 
failed. 
A merchandizing institution, such as a store where commodities are 
sold with a view to private profit, is of course antithetical to the eco- 
nomic organization of a tribal society organized upon the basis of 
mutual aid and kinship ties (White, 1959, pp. 237-260). The ap- 
pearance of stores within a pueblo is therefore an indication of the 
breakdown of the aboriginal socioeconomic system. But there are 
two other factors also which are relevant, namely, size of pueblo pop- 
ulation and accessibility to non-Indian merchants outside the 
pueblo. If the population of the pueblo is very small, a storekeeper 
would be obliged either to sell to close relatives, which would be 
in conflict with customary obligations of kinship, or exclude them 
from his prospective customers, which would reduce an already small 
market still further. Other things being equal, the smaller the pueb- 
lo the more difficult it would be for a member of a pueblo to become a 
merchant within the community; and, below a certain size, a profitable 
store would be impossible. With regard to accessibility of members 
of the pueblo to non-Indian merchants outside the community, 
the greater the accessibility the greater the difficulty of native mer- 
chandising witbin the pueblo, other factors being equal. 
Sia has been a very small community for decades and has there- 
fore offered a correspondingly meager market, too diminutive, it 
would seem, to encourage or permit an Indian operated store within 
the pueblo. Fifty years ago the Sias had relatively easy access to 
non-Indian merchants at San Ysidro, only 4 or 5 miles away. Im- 
proved roads and automobiles have made Bernalillo and even Albu- 
querque increasingly accessible, which also militates against mer- 
chandising within the pueblo. It is not surprising, therefore, that 
Indian merchants have repeatedly failed in Sia. And, at the present 
time, 1957, the situation is not favorable. However should the 
population continue to increase—and, of course, acculturation and 
breakdown of old institutions are always in progress—a successful 
store might be established in Sia in the future. 
