Maud Parker 33 34 Erik W. Allstrom 37 39 The American Indian Sign Language ......... John P. Harrington Oneida Indians Push Garden Program Recent Changes Of Assignment... ... · INDIANS AT WORK · A News Sheet for Indians A decision local in importance, yet with wide bearings on Indian life, was rendered by the Federal District Court of Southern California on July 23, 1938. Certain Indians of the Agua Caliente Band had sued to force land allotment. Previously by a number of years, the Interior Department had started to allot the Agua Caliente (Palm Springs) lands. The tribe had protested, Indian welfare groups had supported the tribe, and the allotments were never completed. The suit at Palm Springs rested upon a double theory that allotment was mandatory upon and not discretionary with the Secretary of the Interior and that a vested right had accrued to the prospective allottees through the commencement of allotment, even though allotment had not been finished. The Court said: "The superior title of the Government in tribal lands and in allotted lands where no patents have been issued implies, of course, wise management. It does not confer on the Government the right to despoil a tribe or an allottee of ac |