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principle, all the institutions of the Union in the army were supposed
 to be subject to the authority of the committee of the front;
in practice, however, the responsibility for the work rested upon the
chairman of the committee of the front (sometimes referred to as the
high commission of the front).
The organization of the Union was not free from criticism. Much
tact and a great deal of experience in public work was required from
the leaders of the Union, so that without giving undue offense and
without hindering the initiative of this or that particular official,
they should secure adherence to the instructions of headquarters,
while acting in strict conformity with the requests of the military
authorities.
The direction of the routine work was left to the commissioners of
the Union who were attached to large army units or were appointed
for a particular area. The separate services were controlled by special
 departments of the committees of the front, which distributed
supplies and money, issued instructions, and cobrdinated their activities.
 Such departments were created as occasion might require
and they were not always successful in drawing a distinct line between
 their respective fields of work. Thus, for instance, the canteens
 on the southwestern front were dependent either on the department
 of military communications, or the department of local
relief, or the department of relief of refugees, or, lastly, on the department
 of trench workers, according to the date and place of their
formation. The departments acted independently in their requests
for supplies; they followed their own rules and standards, with the
result that frequent conflicts occurred.
No one could possibly forecast how long the War would last and
foresee the needs that would arise in its course. Every day presented
new and unexpected problems. New institutions sprang up one after
another, but at the beginning it was impossible to plan for a harmonious
 coordination in the working of the different parts of the
machine. As the War continued, however, friction within the Union
made itself more and more felt. An attempt had to be made, in the
interest of smooth working, to reduce this chaos to order and system,
and it became manifest that a constitution was indispensable for the
regulation of the vast enterprise. An organization that was spending
 10,000,000 rubles a month and controlled thousands of sub-WORK

 IN THE ARMY