190 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR 
proceeded to recruit the medical staff. To carry the plan into execu- 
tion was, however, by no means easy. To begin with, it was impos- 
sible shortly after the outbreak of the War to get things done 
promptly in Moscow. The work was therefore considerably delayed. 
For instance the Moscow firms were willing to take orders for the 
metal rings which were to hold the cots in position, but required sev- 
eral months for the purpose. Fortunately, ready-made rings were 
discovered in some of the towns along the Volga river, where they 
were used by the fishermen for dragging their nets. 
The recruiting of the lower staff also presented considerable diffi- 
sulties, for the work demanded intelligent, patient, well-disciplined, 
and strong men. The first ten trains alone required four hundred 
such persons. The problem was admirably solved by a fortunate 
accident. The department found that a considerable number of 
Mennonites had been placed at the disposal of the military authori- 
ties for hospital service. The Mennonites were German sectarians 
living in Russia who had a conscientious objection to war and had 
steadfastly refused to bear arms ever since their immigration into 
Russia under Catherine II. The Government had guaranteed them 
{reedom from conscription and in return for this exemption they 
undertook to serve in the hospitals in case of war. The Zemstvo 
Union thereupon petitioned the Government to place the Mennon- 
ites at its disposal and the Government readily consented that it 
should hire several hundred Mennonites and see how they would 
answer the purpose. Having met with a friendly and generous re- 
ception, these Mennonites were soon writing cheerful letters home, 
with the result that many hundreds of Mennonites, in addition to 
those who were compelled to serve under the obligations they had 
assumed, enlisted of their own free will in the hospital service of the 
Union. They were excellent workers and performed their duties con- 
scientiously and gallantly. 
We have already stated, in Chapter IV, that the Union of Zem- 
stvos commenced its operations by furnishing special staffs to meet 
the sick and wounded who were arriving at Moscow in ordinary 
freight cars in no way adapted for their conveyance and without 
any attendance, and to accompany them on their way to hospitals in 
the interior. On August 29, 1914, the first train equipped by the 
Zemstvo Union was dispatched from Moscow with sick and wounded 
soldiers to Nizhni-Novgorod. Thus began the system of zemstvo