“ The real controversy is over the meaning of the word 'removed.' It is not questioned that it embraces the action of Congress and of the Secretary of the Interior in abrogating or canceling restrictions in advance of the time fixed for their expiration, but it is insisted that it does not embrace their termination by the lapse of time. In short, the contention is that the word is used in a sense which comprehends only an affirmative act, such as a rescission or revocation while the statutory period was still running. ”

“ In 1912 the allottee deeded the land to Bartlett, one of the appellees, and shortly thereafter Bartlett deeded it to Lashley, the other appellee. These are the deeds sought to be canceled, and the right to that relief is rested upon a provision in § 1 of the act of May 27, 1908 (35 Stat. at L. 312, chap. 199) , declaring that 'all allotted lands of . . . enrolled mixed-bloods of three quarters or more Indian blood . . . shall not be subject to alienation, contract to sell, power of attorney, or any other encumbrance prior to April twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and thirty-one,' etc. ”