xii THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR 
guaranteed as well by the imprimatur of Prince Lvov, Prime Minis- 
ter of Russia in the days when the zemstvos were at their height, 
and their outstanding champion and national leader. 
Personal familiarity with details, however, does not by itself sup- 
ply sufficient data for the author of a text like this. Memories of 
events become vague and elusive, especially when so many others 
supervene, as has been the case in recent Russian history. There is 
no substitute for documents. Fortunately, the Hoover War Library 
of Stanford University had made provision for just this kind of 
exigency and with rare generosity has placed the documents neces- 
sary for this study at the disposal of the authors working in Europe. 
It is not too much to say that without this scientific cosperation the 
present volume could not have been written. 
The chief significance of this monograph, however, does not lie in 
the formal study of an organization fighting its way to efficiency 
through the heart of a national crisis. It lies rather in the purely 
human story of a nation stricken by war and meeting its demands 
with energy, and anxious, if sometimes blundering, activity. There is 
no effort here to force the note in literary phrase or imaginative 
word picture, but the events themselves are chronicled with a direct- 
ness of statement and a richness of detail which make it fitting to re- 
call that M. Polner, who chiefly shaped the text in its present form, 
was a lifelong friend of Tolstoy. 
J. T. S.