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TAFT 230 TAHITI toral College was: Taft, 321; Bryan, 162. In January, 1909, at the request of Presi- dent Roosevelt, Mr. Taft made a visit of inspection to the Panama Canal w^ith a party of engineers. Immediately after his inauguration, March 4, 1909, he con- vened Congress in extraordinary session to revise the tariff, and the bill enacted became effective on August 5. In the au- tumn of 1909 President Taft made an extensive tour of the country, in the course of vi^hich he met President Diaz of Mexico at the boundary line near El Paso, Texas. In 1910 he secured from a none-too-friendly Congress the enact- ment of much beneficial legislation, in- cluding laws authorizing postal-savings banks, requiring publicity for campaign funds, creating a Bureau of Mines and Mining, and several important measures dealing with railroads, conservation, re- clamation, the tariff, and the Lighthouse Service. During 1911 he was particu- larly active in his efforts to secure arbi- tration treaties with England, and trade reciprocity with Canada. The treaty with England was duly signed by Secre- tary Knox and Ambassador Bryce on August 3d. The proposed reciprocity treaty with Canada was deferred for ac- tion by the Canadian Parliament. Among other beneficial acts passed during his administration were the establishment of the Parcels Post, Children's Bureau (1912) ; direct election of senators. Since 1912 Mr. Taft has filled the chair of Kent Professor of Law at Yale. He has been active in all movements to establish international peace. During the World War he was joint-chairman of the Na- tional Labor Conference Board. He took oath as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court on July 11, 1921. TAGAL, a small seaport town on the island of Java, capital of the province of the same name. The Dutch province is in northern Java, and has a population of 819,509. TAGANROG, a seaport of Russia, in the province of the Don Cossacks, on the N. shore of the Sea of Azov; 15 miles W. of the mouth of the Don. Pop. 71,000. TAGORE, RABINDRANATH, a Hin- du poet, born in 1860. He was long well known in India and gained a world- vnde reputation in 1913, when he was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. At the age of 17 he went to Europe, where he completed his education. On returning to India, he became known as an educator and philosopher and was the founder of a university in Bengal. His poetry, which was contributed to maga- zines in India, possessed extraordinary merit and charm. Much of it was trans- lated into English. He made many vis- its in the United States, where he lec- tured and read from his books. He was made a knight by King George, in 1915. His best known writings are: "The Crescent Moon" (1913); "The Gar- RABINDRANATH TAGORE dener" (1913); "Poems"; "The Realiza- tion of Life" (1913); "Essays"; "Chi- trav" (1913) ; "The King of the Dark Chamber" (1914); "Short Stories" (1915); "Fruit-gathering: Nationalism" (1917); "Lover's Gift" (1918). TAGtrS, the largest river in the Span- ish peninsula, which, rising between the Sierra de Albarracin and the Sierra Mo- lina, on the frontier of Aragon and New Castile, flows S. ; then, holding a W. course through the rest of Spain, enters Portugal, when, pursuing a more S. di- rection, it passes Lisbon, forming the magnificent harbor of that city, and, spreading into a splendid estuary, finally mingles its waters with the Atlantic after a course of 625 miles. Above the capital of Portugal it has a width of 5 miles; at the city a breadth of 2 miles; but, in consequence of its deep banks and impetuous current, the Tagus is but little adapted to mercantile purposes and is at present only navigable to Abrantes. TAHITI, an island giving name to a small archipelago, also called Society Islands (q. v.), in the middle of the Pa- cific: a French possession. Pop. about