White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 327 
FUTURE OF SIA 
What of the future of the Sia? Obviously, this depends upon 
many things, one of the most important of which is the policy of the 
United States Government: should it suddenly, or gradually, abandon 
its protection of the Pueblo Indians and place them at the mercy of 
State and local governments, and the avarice and covetousness of 
their neighbors, the consequences would be disastrous for the Indians. 
I shall hazard no guess as to what the Federal Government might or 
might not do within the next decade or generation. Assuming a 
continuation of Federal Government aid and protection, we can make 
a few meaningful observations with regard to the prospects of the Sia. 
First of all, there is the tremendously impressive fact of their sheer 
survival. In the 1890’s virtually all observers were sure that it was 
just a matter of time before extinction overtook them. They were 
desperately poor, half-starved and in rags, few in numbers and these 
declining, despised and ridiculed by their own Pueblo neighbors. But 
they never gave up. Nor did their spirit ever weaken or break; they 
continued to sustain a stout pride in themselves and their traditions. 
And they loved their pueblo with a quiet, but tenacious, passion. 
Through all their privations and hardships they maintained their in- 
stitutions; their political and ceremonial organization was preserved 
intact. Few episodes in the history of man’s struggle for survival are 
more impressive than that of the Sias; their strength, courage, tenacity 
and devotion are unsurpassed. 
Now, in 1957, they are “over thehump.” The protection and assist- 
ance of the United States Government have played an important 
role in their survival and success. They own their own land and pay 
no rent or taxes. The Government has helped them substantially in 
agriculture, irrigation, stock raising, sanitation, hygiene, medical care 
and schooling. There is still poverty and avoidable sickness and 
death, but they are making progress. 
But, as they become more secure economically and medically, they 
are losing their Indian culture. This is inevitable. More and more 
of the culture of the White man will invade the old pueblo and estab- 
lish itself there. And more and more Sia men and women will go out 
into the White man’s world to find employment. Marriage with 
outsiders will doubtless increase, and some—and then more—will 
make their homes in the outside world. What poverty, hunger, and 
sickness could not accomplish in the past, security, success, and a mod- 
icum of prosperity will achieve in the future: the extinction of an 
aboriginal sociocultural system as it dissolves in the circumambient 
sea of the White man’s culture. 
