CHANGES IN PRINCIPLES 289 
mocratized” zemstvo boards was their largely increased member- 
ships, which was due to the fact that the number of the members 
was not determined so much by the amount of work they were ex- 
pected to do as by the agreements entered into by the political 
parties. 
It is only natural that the work of the zemstvos, which had suf- 
fered already from the extraordinary stress and strain of war condi- 
tions, should have been seriously disorganized during the brief pe- 
riod 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 recog- 
nition 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 sur- 
rendered to the zemstvos a certain part of its administrative powers 
by placing under their jurisdiction the local police force and con- 
tinuing 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 con- 
trolling 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 re- 
forms 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 out- 
break of the Bolshevik Revolution. 
The new law also introduced radical changes into the structure of 
the zemstvo institutions by creating small territorial divisions of lo- 
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