28 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 197 



the Indian Reorganization Act in the following year. Although the 

 provisions of this act did not formally apply to the Navaho, who had 

 rejected it by a narrow margin in referendum, most of its aims found 

 expression in the many programs that were put into effect on the Nava- 

 jo Reservation by the Navajo Agency, the Soil Conservation Service, 

 and other Government agencies during the 1930's (Young, 1955, p. 

 115). 



In applying the recommendations of the Meriam Report and other 

 surveys as they pertained to the Navaho situation, the several programs 

 initiated under the Collier Administration after 1933 sought to ac- 

 complish three major objectives. First, an extensive program of stock 

 reduction was to be carried out, and rigid limitations upon further 

 increases in stock holdmgs were henceforth to be enforced. Secondly, a 

 number of soil conservation measures were to be established. Finally, 

 the Navajo Tribal Council was to be organized into an effective and 

 responsible executive body for the eventual direction of Navaho affairs 

 on a representative basis. 



A rational basis for determining the amount of stock reduction 

 necessary in each range district was established by means of a survey 

 of range conditions throughout the reservation area. This area was 

 then divided into 18 land management districts and the carrying 

 capacity of each district was estimated in terms of "mature sheep 

 units." ^" The reduction program was therefore aimed at bringing the 

 stock holdings in each district to a figure approximating its estimated 

 carrying capacity. In pursuit of this objective, the livestock holdings 

 of the entire Navajo Agency area (which includes the Hopi Reserva- 

 tion) were reduced from about 1 million mature sheep units in 1933 

 to about 720,000 units in 1937 (Young, 1955, p. 187) . 



This program gave rise to much resentment and resistance among 

 the Navaho, who understood only that in slaughtering their sheep 

 and horses, "Washington" was destroying, at a single stroke, both 

 their means of livelihood and their greatest source of pleasure and 

 prestige. This resistance might have been anticipated, in view of the 

 suspicion the Navaho had earlier manifested toward the boarding- 

 school system inaugurated in the 19th century .^^ Unfortunately, all 



6» In calculating this unit, mature sheep and goats count one unit each, mature cattle 

 count four units each, and mature horses count five units each. These ratios are roughly 

 proportional to the amount of forage consumed by each type of animal. In general, 

 each land management district was defined in terms of the prevailing watershed. 



" It must be stressed that the stock reduction program was in every sense a "crash 

 program" aimed at overcoming an intolerable situation as quickly as possible. Under 

 these emergency conditions, adequate educational preparation could not be undertaken. 

 It should be noted, further, that all animals were traditionally evaluated by the Navaho 

 on a strictly numerical basis, without regard to quality. Thus any reduction in the 

 number of one's livestock holdings was bound to be interpreted as a loss of wealth, despite 

 the ultimate improvement in the quality of the stock which might result from such re- 

 duction in numbers. The greatest resentment was apparently aroused by the slaughtering 

 of Navaho horses, despite the fact that these animals were of little economic worth by this 

 time. It is clear that the Navaho's horse, like the American's automobile, cannot be 

 evaluated within a simple framework of economic rationality. 



