60 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR 
of the army, as well as the Red Cross, were found to be very poorly 
prepared to cope with the gigantic task that was beginning to con- 
front them and were compelled to strain every possible resource at 
their command to deal with the situation in the immediate vicinity 
of the immensely long battle lines. At this juncture the Unions were 
asked to elaborate a plan for the evacuation of the wounded to the 
interior. According to the initial proposal, the Zemstvo Union was 
to furnish at once more than 100,000 hospital beds to be appor- 
tioned among the provinces covered by the Union. 
At the end of August, a telegraphic request to this effect having 
been sent out to the zemstvos, many of them reported that they con- 
sidered it absolutely impossible to accomplish so prodigious a task 
by local means. Moscow then sent a reassuring reply, stating that 
the equipment as well as upkeep of the beds would be assumed by 
the Central Committee of the Union whenever local resources should 
prove inadequate. 
After this, there was feverish activity and by the first of October, 
1914, the entire task was accomplished: the zemstvos and the local 
committees of the Union had equipped in the provinces of the in- 
terior a total of 103,635 hospital beds. 
At the same time the Union had to establish several central clear- 
ing stations and hospitals, at the request of the military authorities. 
When it was found that it would be necessary to open additional 
clearing stations, the work was again entrusted to the Union of Zem- 
stvos. In the matter of new hospital facilities, too, the zemstvo com- 
mittees found themselves compelled, contrary to their calculations, 
to go far beyond the original projects and open at Moscow many 
more hospitals, to deal with the enormous stream of casualties from 
the front. On July 1, 1915, there were already 172,079 zemstvo beds 
in the country, and by the first of September, 1916, this number had 
reached 195,273, with insignificant fluctuations. 
Hospital Supplies. 
To achieve such results, it was necessary for headquarters at Mos- 
cow to organize without delay wholesale purchases of the supplies 
required for hospital service. But the Moscow market was found to 
be practically without supplies. Previous to the War, it had been 
mainly Germany that had furnished Russia with medical goods, 
drugs, and surgical instruments. The War had come so suddenly