Johnston] 



NAVAHO POPULATION 41 



Reservations. The need for such a program was apparent as early 

 as 1941, when the findings of the last Human Dependency Survey be- 

 came known. Despite the intensive efforts of the 1930's the gross 

 income of the Navaho in 1940 was 30 percent lower than it was in 

 1936 (table 5). With the rapid increase in the population of the 

 Navaho, this implied an even greater reduction in per capita income. 

 However, the war brought a temporary improvement in the economic 

 condition of the Navaho. By 1944, the total individual (nontribal) 

 income of the Navaho had risen to nearly $11 million, of which over 

 $5 million were wage earnings. This represented an increase in wage 

 earnings of nearly 500 percent over 1940. In this same 4-year period, 

 the average Navaho family income rose from about $335 in 1940 to 

 about $998 in 1944 (Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1944) . 



Unfortunately, this wartime prosperity was not supported by any 

 fundamental solution to the economic problems of the Navaho. The 

 end of the war soon brought about a severe economic recession on the 

 reservation, when the wartime markets and employment opportunities 

 were drastically reduced. This crisis motivated a number of new 

 studies leading to the development of an integrated, long-range pro- 

 gram of economic rehabilitation. These studies culminated in the 

 Krug Report, which outlined the foundation of the "Navajo-Hopi 

 Long Range Rehabilitation Program" which was enacted by the 81st 

 Congress in 1950 (Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1948; cf. Boyce, 1942). 



This enactment authorized an appropriation of $88,570,000 extend- 

 ing over the decade from 1950 to 1960, and allocated among 14 major 

 categories of expenditure. In table 6, these categories are grouped 

 according to the major objective of the initial authorization and 

 arranged in order of the amount authorized. The amounts already 

 appropriated as of 1956 are also indicated. ^^ 



Table 6 reveals four major areas of expenditure that were relatively 

 underemphasized in the programs of the 1930's: education; reloca- 

 tion; economic diversification; and public health. In the field of 

 education, the major objective of the Rehabilitation Program is to 

 bring the reservation school facilities to the point where all eligible 

 children can receive an elementary education. The authorizations for 

 the relocation program seek to encourage permanent emigration from 

 the reservation by providing material assistance to the migrating 

 families during the actual movement and the period of adjustment 

 following their settlement off the reservation. The funds for economic 

 diversification are being utilized to encourage Navahos and Hopis 

 to establish new and varied business enterprises both on and off the 

 reservation. The ultimate aim of the expenditures in these areas is 

 the same: To reduce the strain upon the existing land resources of 



■" Young, 1955, p. v. A major part of these yearbooks is devoted to a discussion of 

 the progress made in implementing the provisions of this long-range program. 



