152 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR 
The following instance taken from the district of Moscow, will 
make it clear how complex these popular organizations of mutual 
assistance sometimes became. Following a conference of the repre- 
sentatives of coSperative societies with the district zemstvo board, 
the credit association of Durykino, in response to the appeal of the 
zemstvo, decided to come to the aid of farms which were suffering 
from war conditions. It was joined by eleven local organizations, in- 
cluding dairymen’s associations, parochial relief committees, the 
zemstvo relief committee, and the committee for the relief of dis- 
abled soldiers. All these organizations jointly appointed a commit- 
tee which divided the volost of Durykino into ten areas. In each area 
a commission was appointed for the purpose of investigating cases 
of need and determining the extent of the assistance to be rendered. 
Among the members of the commissions were village elders, medical 
officers, school teachers, and the clergy. The estimates and the plan 
»f relief measures drawn by the commissions were examined and 
approved by the Durykino zemstvo relief committee. As a result, 
assistance was given to 830 households in forty rural communities.’ 
In some provinces the organization was better planned and more 
sfficient. We have already mentioned the establishment of the volost 
aconomic councils in Perm in the spring of 1916. At the close of 
July, 1916, the provincial board reported to the provincial -assem- 
bly of Perm as follows: 
According to the testimony of the district board of Kamyshlov, the 
hopes of the zemstvo for a more efficient system of relief based on popu- 
lar initiative, as represented by the volost economic councils, were 
found to be fully justified. . . . In the opinion of the district board, 
the zemstvo ought to follow the same procedure in its further measures 
for assisting the farmers. It was ascertained, for instance, in the course 
of the sowing operations that all implements, horses, and other facilities 
placed at the disposal of the farmers by the zemstvo had been utilized 
by the volost economic councils in a thoroughly efficient manner. 
Of similar volost councils or committees we read in the reports of 
those organizations in the provinces of Ufa, Samara, and Stavropol. 
In other localities they were known by different names, but followed 
the same plan of work and succeeded in rallying the farmers round 
the zemstvos. 
5 Isvestia (Bulletin), Nos. 43-44, pp. 182-183.