294 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
stvos, in making large appropriations for war needs, were borrow-
ing from funds of their own, intending to amortize these loans by
including every year a certain sum in the budget of expenditure.
Generally, we may speak of redistributions in the zemstvo budgets
rather than of any serious reductions of expenditures. It is true,
these redistributions somewhat curtailed the work of the local gov-
arnment in those fields where it was manifested before the War, but
this was due merely to caution as regards the future, and by no
means to actual financial difficulties. On the contrary, in its first
stages the War exerted a most favorable influence on zemstvo
finances, thanks to the large sums of money that came into the pos-
session of landlords and peasants, who paid most of the zemstvo
taxes.
The reader will remember that the area of land under cultivation
was only slightly curtailed during the first year of the War.* At
the same time the prices of farm produce were rising, and this
at once brought an increase of income to the agricultural classes.
There were also other reasons why more and more money flowed into
the pockets of the peasantry. In the first place, there were the al-
lowances which the Government paid to the families of mobilized
soldiers, and in the second there were the payments for horses and
harness requisitioned for military purposes. It must be also recalled
that the prohibition of the sale of alcoholic liquor resulted in con-
siderable savings.
Professor Prokopovich® estimates the cash surplus of the peas-
antry as follows:
Monetary Surplus of the Peasantry.
First year Second year Third year
of war of war of war
1914-1915 1915-1916 1916-1917
(in millions of rubles)
585 1,386
Separation allowances
Received for requisitioned horses
and harness
Savings from prohibition of alco-
holic liquor
5.0
90
600
A00
600
Total
1.250
1,365
2.076
2 See above, Chapter VIII.
3S. N. Prokopovich, Voina i Narodnoe Khozyaistvo (War and National
Economy), Moscow, 1918.
