70 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
ging trenches, building roads, and similar work; and (8) how to aid
the local population and refugees in the war zone who were abandoning
 their homes before the invading enemy and retreating with
the army.

Scope of the Work.
To cope with these tasks under war-time conditions required
great organizing ability. How the needs were met in actual practice
we shall attempt to describe later on. For the present we confine ourselves
 to pointing out the fact that, about the middle of 1916, when
the Central Committee undertook the classification of the various
institutions that had been established in the war zone, it was able to
register 146 types and varieties grouped in the following main categories:
 medical, sanitary, canteens, transport of wounded, freight,
charities, trading, veterinary, workshops, factories, abattoirs, dairy
farms, laboratories, storage depots and warehouses, and Institutions
for the purchase of raw materials.
Toward the close of 1916 the number of such institutions belonging
 to the Zemstvo Union was as follows:

Institutions of the Union of Zemstvos in 1916.

Workshops

Medical Hos- and
and sani- Can- Trans- pital factary
 teens port trains tories Stores Depots Others Total

Organized by
Central Committee

Institutions of
the provincial
committees
Institutions of
committees of
the front 358 “i 436 145 421 175 4,100
Total 4,983 850 395 70 498 146 481 305 17,728

It is easy to imagine how complicated the purchasing, bookkeeping,
 and other functions of the Central Committee at Moscow must
have become by this time. New departments were established, in-