Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1921-02-21 | Page 8 | Low Prices Felt by Navajo Indians

LOW PRICES FELT BY NAVAJO INDIANS j PHoK.MX. Ariz.. Feb. 21. Navajo Indians are the first of the trlbe3 living liv-ing in this vicinity to feel the effects of low prices. As a result of pr-sent prices, the Xavajos are turning from the modern pursuits they have adopted adopt-ed In recent years to their more ancient an-cient Industry the making of the-far-famed Navajo Indian blankets, according ac-cording to information brought to Phoenix. Of late years the Nav.ijos of northern north-ern Arizona have engaged In wool-growing wool-growing with trn-at sncfeesS Even the siuaw was called from her blanket woavinK to moro profitable dutie- in connection with wool growing, But the price of wool has dropped and has forced the Indians back to blanket makingt So, the squaws once more take their places by the doors of the "hogiins" and work out the wool designs that brought fame to their tribe. The v.,. .iJo sqnaw Is a iast master m the Sk- workln out blanket designs. She often keeps a design in. her mind fo- several weeks before i,i-.. . work on it. Sometimes when aske,, to copy some other designs, th, squaw I stud ea the model for hours, then .imparting .im-parting for home without the model Later she will return with an Sact LPJt ,r.,bes have nt vet been l,TJ,bxfk fo ,hcir old Piults. A tnbe of Maricopa Indians, living eight miles south of Phoenix. fajned as makers of pottery, have taken to cotton cot-ton growing Their Income from the crops Qnd from tho eoverMmcnt h bi ought so much prosperity that In the past year they made onlv twenty per cent as much pottery as they did rive years ago. Wheat and cotton raising have greatly curtailed production of baskets bas-kets In the Pa page Indian villages In Pima county Inhabitants of these I villages produce most of the world's I supply of Indian baskets, accord ng to curio dealers, but the supply s ls than one-tenth of the demand