282 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
Zemstvos and of Towns. At the beginning of September, the preliminary
 agreements having been successfully negotiated, the Zemgor
 obtained from the military authorities an official request to form
eighty gangs of one thousand men each. Urgent orders were thereupon
 issued to the local committees of the Unions of Zemstvos and
of Towns to assemble the necessary forces of diggers and carpenters.
Feverish preparations were begun at Moscow to supply tools, warm
clothing, and warm portable shelters. Engineers and skilled workmen
 familiar with the building industry were registered by the committees.
 On September 5 the Emperor gave his approval to the necessary
 legislation sanctioning the volunteer labor battalions. To
facilitate the formation of these battalions, the military authorities
at the front after some preliminary negotiations, agreed to allow
considerable privileges in respect of liability for military service to
the men registering for work in this force.
The news that this unprecedented duty had been entrusted to the
Zemgor, however, produced in government circles in Petrograd the
effect of a bombshell. Was it possible? they asked. Were these public
bodies to be permitted to have an army of their own, equipped and
organized under the command of zemstvo engineers? Those in favor
of the new enterprise endeavored to allay these fears, to convince
these nervous bureaucrats that, even if the unions did cherish evil
designs, their “army” of 80,000 men, equipped with nothing more
dangerous than axes and shovels, would be unable to do any harm
with millions of troops in front of them. They failed, however, completely
 and the higher officials of the Government were seized with a
truly comical panic. The result was that the Zemgor, on September
11, was suddenly ordered by Petrograd to cease at once the further
recruiting of labor and to confine itself to one battalion of a thousand
 men, by way of experiment. Thus a vast measure, taken in
hand with great enthusiasm over the whole of Russia had to be
abandoned.
These facts, which today seem almost incredible, clearly illustrate
the fear and distrust with which the higher circles of the Government
 regarded the Unions of Zemstvos and of Towns. They also reveal
 the conflicting views regarding those bodies held by the authorities
 at the front and at Petrograd—a conflict that made itself
felt at every step in their activities.
In the meantime the first labor battalion organized by the Zemgor