CHANGES IN PRINCIPLES 289
mocratized” zemstvo boards was their largely increased memberships,
 which was due to the fact that the number of the members
was not determined so much by the amount of work they were expected
 to do as by the agreements entered into by the political
parties.
It is only natural that the work of the zemstvos, which had suffered
 already from the extraordinary stress and strain of war conditions,
 should have been seriously disorganized during the brief period
 of existence of the so-called “democratized” zemstvos; and
indeed the decline of them was rapid.

The New Zemstvo Act.

In the autumn of 1917 the old zemstvos gave way to others,
elected under the law passed by the Provisional Government. This
law provided that zemstvo institutions were to be established in
every province and territory of Russia. It was based upon the recognition
 of the vast importance of local government to the State, and
the zemstvos, having been granted a considerable extension of their
powers and functions and having been made independent, were at
the same time incorporated in the general administrative system as
autonomous organs of the Government. The Government also surrendered
 to the zemstvos a certain part of its administrative powers
by placing under their jurisdiction the local police force and continuing
 to contribute to the maintenance of this force from the
State Treasury. In transferring to the zemstvos all question: of
elementary education, the medical and veterinary service, various
agricultural organizations, and other such matters, the new law en-‘rusted
 to the provincial zemstvos the function of guiding and controlling
 the district zemstvos, and the latter therefore could now be
regarded as, in a certain sense, subordinate organs. In addition to
this, the Provisional Government began work on a number of reforms
 in the field of local taxation as the zemstvos had in great
measure exhausted the funds and sources of revenue with which the
old law had endowed them. But the commission specially formed for
this purpose was prevented from concluding its labors bv the outbreak
 of the Bolshevik Revolution.
The new law also introduced radical changes into the structure of
the zemstvo institutions by creating small territorial divisions of loc


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