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Show THE NAVAJO AS A NATION 163 or small. All in all, 100,000 sheep would be bought from Navajo owners. Since the council could see no other choice, they agreed. Nothing shocked the Navajos more than seeing this plan in action. At first, it did not work because the People opposed the whole concept. To the Navajos of the 1930s, livestock was wealth. Sheep gave the People security. Selling or killing that stock could only bring hardship, for a person could not eat paper dollars. In a short time, the money was spent, and the sheep were gone. The fact that the money paid for the sheep did not cover Navajo losses caused more anger. Smaller ranchers had to give up productive ewes to meet the quota. Unlike the ricos, who could sell mostly worthless stock, the smaller ranchers were badly hurt. In the end, the plan added to the gap between rich and poor. Still there seemed to be no other way. Members of the Tribal Council supported the plan even though most Navajos opposed it. At the next election, those members were voted out of office and the tribe chose new councilmen who opposed Collier's plan. So it went with each new election. As each new council came to see the problem, they endorsed the reduction program. In later years, few people, Navajo or non-Navajo, have denied the wisdom of the plan. But the high-handed way in which the program was put into effect caused much pain. 1 »«&4.i * •*: 1 «i ' 1. . 4& Seeing the stock-reduction plan in action shocked the Navajos. They protested the waste and the way the program was carried out. Photograph courtesy of the Kansas City Federal Records Center. |