ACTIVITIES BEFORE THE WAR 51 
out their economic activities through innumerable agencies, inti- 
mately connected with the cooperative producers’, consumers’, and 
credit associations, and having at their disposal a veritable army of 
devoted and capable employees, should have played so important a 
part during the years of the War. It must also be borne in mind 
that, untrammeled by bureaucratic routine and accustomed to inde- 
pendent constructive work, the zemstvos possessed a far greater elas- 
ticity than the government organizations, and were able to adjust 
their machinery to meet the unprecedented demands made by the 
War. They could not, however, escape its ruinous consequences.