The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1914-03-15
CHEATING IN BOGUS
NAVAJO BLANKETS
Department of Indian Affairs
Takes Measures to Protect
Indian Weavers.
INTERPRETERS STORY
Tells of Customs, Literature.
Beliefs and Traditions of
Southern Tribes.
INTERPRETERS STORY

If YOU re buying Navjo blankets,
look for the official tag as guarantee
that YOU get what you are supposed TO
be paying for,
The United States department OF In
dian affairs, after an extended lnvest-
cation, has, through +. b, Merritt, as
sistant Indian commissioner, recently
issued an order requiring that all
Navajo blankets be tagged with GER
tiiicate Of their genuineness, attested by
the trader or merchant who handles the
roods and bearing also the signature OF
the superintendent of the reservation
from which the blanket is sold Pen
altv for failure on the part of the trad
er TO in any case comply with this reg
ulation will be refusal on the part OF
the reservation superintendent TO GER
tifv any of his goods,
This action by the government for
| the protection of the Navajos IN their
cherished and most famous industry
was taken at the instance of Senator
George Sutherland OF Utah, whose at.
! tentiou to conditions alleged to prevail
was called by L. G.. Christensen OF Mon
4, ticello, interpreter in the negotiations
. between the Navajos and the whites for
more than q quarter of century. Mr..
! Christensen, who is here on business,
! viii tonight at $50 o clock deliver a
lecture in the Twentty,fourth ward chap
el Sixth North and First West streets,
! taking as his subject "The Navalos,
Their Manners and Customs. - The lee
ture is free to the public.
Both Are Cheated.
Having spent the last thirty years
among this primitive people Of southern
| Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Arl~
zona, Mr. Christensen is entitled to
speak with authority concerning condl-
iions and problems to be faced. In dis
cussing the question yesterday he said !:
It is absolutely true that the Nav
aios have been cheated out of hun
dreds of thousands of dollars
through the sale Of bogus blankets
by traders. It is equally true that
| those who bought the blankets
have been likewise cheated, for the
| limitations, made by machinery and
very beautiful to look upon, liter
ally will Fnot hold water as will
genuine blanket, and they last
| but short time even when well
cared for Yet the traders ask as
| much for them as the Indians do
for the real article, and sometimes
more. l am glad that the govern
ment has seen fit to recognize the
interest taken by Senator Suther-
land in this regard, and has issued
an order that will afford the In
dians deserved protection, for the
making of these blankets is their
greatest and most profitable indus
try.
Navajos Intelligent.
We have 5000 Navajos in San
Juan county alone, and about 30,-
900 in the territory that they cover
in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico
and Arizona. / have lived among
them tor more than thirty years
and know their language, habits
andocustoms. The making of Nav
ajo blanket is no small, task. On
one Of ordinary size squaw will
work steadily FOR from four to six
weeks, and some OF elaborate de-
signs take much longer What Is
probably the largest blanket Of its
kind WAS woven for Lorenzo Hub
BILE, rich Arizona merchant and
trader. 1t is IS by % feet, and in
six weeks. Mr.. Hubble fed them,
furnished all the material and then
paid $3.50 for the finished product;
but l am sure that he would not
part with it for much larger sum.
In many ways the Navajos are
unusually intelligent While their
language has never been reduced to
writing, they have quite an extend
ed literature OF poetry and legend
that has been handed down, for,
they say, something like 1000 years.
They do not believe in damnation,
but are confident that "happy
hunting ground" awaits them after
they. ego over" for so they call
death. The passage to this land is
held to be through "Twelve-mile
Canyon 1t may take 100 OF 1000
years to get through. In early days
before the government had a, hold
upon them, when a big chief died
his horses, dogs and servants were
slain and buried with him that he
might have help in. going through
the dark CANYON