38 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[Bull. 197 



economic assets during the period from 1915 to 1926. Whereas 

 Paquette estimated a total i^er capital value of all property held by 

 the Navahos under his jurisdiction of $1,250 in 1915, the correspond- 

 ing figure obtained in the Meriam Survey of 1926 comes to only 



$1,058.«« 



Table 4. — Income and property valuation, alt Navajo Agency jurisdictions 



comMned — 1926 ^ 



1 Meriam et al., 1928, pp. 442, 445, 452, 455, 544. 



2 The combined population of the several Navajo Agency jurisdictions as estimated in this survey was 

 30,443. This figure was used in computing the per capita figures for income and property valuation. 



The first economic surveys of the Navaho to extend beyond the 

 superficial stock enumerations and property evaluations of the former 

 reports occurred in the period 1936-40. At this time, the Soil Con- 

 servation Service carried out an elaborate program of development 

 and rehabilitation on the Navajo and Hopi Keservations. As a nec- 

 essary adjunct to this program, a Human Dependency Survey was 

 undertaken. 



This survey was aimed at providing up-to-date information on the 

 economic condition of the Indian population in the several land 

 management districts. The findings of the initial survey were sum- 

 marized in a statistical report dated August 1938. Subsequent data 

 and corrections led to the issuance of a revision in May 1939, and 

 further fieldwork led to the issuance of a final statistical summary 

 in October 1941 (Soil Conservation Service, 1938; Bureau of Indian 

 Affairs, 1941b). 



In table 5 selected data from the two later statistical summaries of 

 the Human Dependency Survey are combined with more recent data 

 from later sources to present a summary of economic trends on the 

 reservation during the past 20 years. These data, like those presented 

 earlier, are only roughly comparable because of certain changes in the 

 basis of classification employed in the several reports. Furthermore, 

 comparisons or evaluations of quantities expressed in dollar terms are 

 frequently misleading because of the decline in the value of the dollar 

 during the period in question. Nevertheless, it is possible to draw 

 certain tentative conclusions from the data in table 5. The first point 

 to be noted is the increasing density of the reservation population. In 



^ This comparison must be viewed with caution, because precise information is lack- 

 ing as to the composition of the respective categories. 



