268 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
ion “the right to acquire and dispose of property, sign contracts,
assume obligations, bring civil proceedings, and appear in court in
matters affecting the property of the Union” (article 4).
These modest demands were wholeheartedly supported by the rep-
resentatives of the zemstvos, but the Government strongly objected
to it. Only after the Revolution, on June 7, 1917, did the Provi-
sional Government legally confirm the “Statute concerning the All-
Russian Union of Zemstvos,” a statute, however, far more liberal in
its scope. The new law embodied, in the first place, those permanent
duties which the Union was expected to undertake after the War,
and dealt only in second place with the needs arising out of the
War."
Conclusion.
We have described in the preceding pages the principal divisions
of the Central Committee of the Union that were in operation dur-
ing the second half of the War. The less important departments,
however, as, for instance, the economic department were also
steadily expanding their activities. It has naturally been impossible
to give here anything like an exhaustive description of the numerous
activities of the Union in all their aspects and manifestations. We
have said nothing, or practically nothing, of the publishing, educa-
tional, and legal work done by the Union. Mention has been made of
the purchase of supplies for the needs of the zemstvo hospitals.
Similar measures were taken for the purpose of supplying the zem-
stvo schools with paper, writing materials, and textbooks, and the
Union established a contact with the most important firms in Russia
and Finland. The Union went so far as to buy one of the largest
printing plants in Moscow, in order to be able to carry on this work
efficiently. We have had no opportunity of discussing the work ac-
complished by the learned commission sent by the Union to the al-
'1 Article 1 of the law of June 1, 1917, reads: “The All-Russian Zem-
stvo Union, being a united organization of zemstvo institutions, carries into
effect those measures which are called for by (1) the needs and duties of a
general nature and (2) by the war and its consequences. Nore: The All-
Russian Zemstvo Union may also establish manufacturing, commercial, and
credit enterprises, open schools (higher, secondary, and primary) and insti-
tutions of social welfare, extend to them its codperation, and publish and
distribute printed matter.” See Isvestia (Bulletin), Nos. 85-36, pp. 33-87,
109-111.
