129
practical inauguration of this excellent scheme was beset with insur-
mountable obstacles.
Already on August 11, 1914, a Supreme Council had been formed
under the chairmanship of the President of the Council of Ministers
for the purpose, as it was stated in the ukase, “of securing the co-
ordination of state, public, and private efforts to provide for the
families of mobilized men and the families of those who were
wounded and killed.” On January 10, 1915, the sphere of activities
of this council was enlarged. It was now given charge of activities
connected with the finding of employment for disabled soldiers, and
other forms of relief. For this purpose the Supreme Council ap-
pointed from among its own members a Special Committee presided
over by the Emperor’s sister, the Grand Duchess Xenia. The local
branches of the Committee of Grand ‘Duchess Elizabeth Feodo-
rovna® were recognized as the local organs of the Special Commit-
tee. Representatives of the Unions of Zemstvos and of Towns were
invited to take part in the deliberations of the Committee, but they
were greatly outnumbered by the bureaucrats. The funds placed at
the disposal of the Special Committee were practically unlimited.
The representatives of the Union of Towns submitted to the Com-
mittee a plan for the relief of the disabled men that was, on the
whole, very much like the plan proposed by the Zemstvo Union.
The recommendations of the Union of Towns were duly considered
and most of them accepted by the Committee, which then proceeded
to carry the program into effect. The Committee decided to create
its own organization, but was prepared, at the same time, to subsi-
dize other institutions, such as individual zemstvos. It merely ig-
nored the Unions of Zemstvos and of Towns. The Commitlee’s own
work was carried on principally in Petrograd. The work of its local
organs did not run very smoothly. The Committee examined and
approved a number of individual and purely casual requests and
petitions from various institutions, societies, and private individuals,
for subsidies.
During the first year the work done was confined to the compara-
tively narrow limits of an ordinary charitable institution in Petro-
grad. Encouraged by this example, many government departments
attempted to follow suit. Thus, the Ministry of Commerce and In-
37 Sister of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
SICK AND WOUNDED
