WORK OF THE UNION 
work fell properly within the sphere of activities of the Zemstvo 
Union. Zemstvo committees for the supply of the army were there- 
upon established by all provincial and district zemstvos. Their first 
task was to “mobilize the industry, large and small, and to organize, 
with the aid of the zemstvos, the scattered technical resources of the 
country.” 
As early as July, 1915, the Zemstvo Union received from the War 
Department millions of rubles’ worth of orders for various articles 
of military equipment and munitions. Among these we find not only 
the usual articles of supply issued by the Army Supply Depart- 
ment, such as wagons, harness; field kitchens, horseshoes, tarpaulins, 
knapsacks, saddles, etc., but likewise shells for the artillery and other 
highly technical articles, such as mortars, hand grenades, trench 
tools, field telephones. All such orders were immediately distributed 
among the local organs of the Zemstvo Union, and, in addition to 
these, the Central Committee established its own plants, including 
one for the manufacture of three- and six-inch shells, and factories 
to produce sulphuric acid, telephones, tarpaulins, and so on. 
Representatives of the Union of Zemstvos and the Union of 
Towns had expressed a strong desire that the two unions should co- 
operate more closely in equipping and supplying the army. The re- 
sult was that representatives of both unions met in J uly, 1915, and 
formed a separate executive committee for the supply of the army, 
known as the Zemgor, which hereafter took charge of these respon- 
sible tasks. 
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