142 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR 
inces of European Russia amounted to no more than 17.16 rubles.” 
The functions of the zemstvos included, among other things, chari- 
table work, but only “within the limits of available means.” Such 
means, however, were always inadequate, and after allotting the 
greater part to public health and elementary schools in the rural 
districts, the zemstvos could appropriate for charitable work only 
the most insignificant sums (in 1914. only 1.4 per cent of the total 
budget). 
The general welfare of orphans was looked after by a number of 
official charitable organizations. Thus, under the jurisdiction of the 
Department of the Empress Marie, 76 asylums sheltering 1,700 
orphans had been in existence previous to the War. Again, under 
the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture, we find a board on 
orphanages. The welfare of war orphans in particular was looked 
after by two bureaucratic committees, the Alexis Committee, and 
the Romanov Committee, the first administering the maintenance 
funds and the second granting from time to time special appropria- 
tions to the zemstvo institutions, peasant communities, and charities 
for the upkeep of institutions already in existence and the establish- 
ment of additional ones. 
All these measures, however, proved inadequate and there was an 
argent necessity of working out some common plan, of an exact 
registration of the steadily increasing number of orphans, and of 
sbtaining adequate appropriations from the State Treasury. But it 
was found impossible to carry out these measures under the condi- 
tions prevailing in Russia, and the result was that individual zem- 
stvos and zemstvo committees found themselves confronted with the 
xceedingly difficult task of solving the various problems from their 
own limited resources and in uncoordinated fashion. 
Upon the whole, the plan of the zemstvos was as follows: (1) For 
war orphans of pre-school age, that is, two to seven years, as well as 
for orphans of school age not cared for in orphanages, a system of 
soarding in private families was to be adopted, under the supervi- 
sion of the district zemstvo boards and of their local organs, and 
funds were to be provided for the maintenance of orphans thus 
placed; (2) compulsory education was to be provided for orphans 
" Trudi (Proceedings) of the Conference on Public Charities, May 11-16, 
1914.