EFFECTS OF THE WAR 295 
When we consider that, according to Professor Prokopovich’s 
calculations, the total income of the Russian peasantry before the 
War averaged 5,015,000,000 rubles a year and that the cash part 
of this income was 1,863,000,000 rubles, we shall see how greatly 
the ability of the peasants to pay their taxes had been enhanced by 
the War. Of course, we have in mind merely ability to pay taxes, 
and not real wealth, because the latter was in fact progressively 
shrinking, owing to the increasing scarcity of labor and of draft ani- 
mals, and, as a natural consequence, to the decrease in the area 
under cultivation in 1916. At all events, at the end of 1914 and the 
beginning of 1915, rural Russia experienced a period of remark- 
able, even though essentially abnormal prosperity. 
Effect of the Mobilization. 
This had a most favorable effect on the financial position of the 
zemstvos. At a time when the cities were beginning to feel the full 
weight of the War, the zemstvo institutions were still enjoying a 
period of financial prosperity, and contemporary newspapers spoke 
of a very satisfactory flow of tax payments into the zemstvo treas- 
uries and of a steady stream of deposits in the zemstvo banks. But 
if the beginning of the War brought the zemstvos a temporary 
financial relief which enabled most of them to continue their previ- 
ous activities almost undiminished, we have to admit, on the other 
hand, that the quality of the work was at once adversely affected by 
the War, since the number of experienced zemstvo workers was con- 
siderably reduced by the mobilization. The calling to the colors of 
each successive class deprived the zemstvos of a rapidly increasing 
number of their employees and elected members. In the early days 
of the War it was still possible to find substitutes for the mobilized 
men among persons of somewhat less experience. In particular, the 
male members of the medical staffs had to be replaced by women. 
Soon, however, endless columns of advertisements began to appear 
in the newspapers, offering employment in the zemstvo institutions; 
but the rapidly growing army made it increasingly difficult to find 
persons qualified for the vacant positions. An inquiry conducted by 
the editors of the Zemstvo Yearbook showed that on J uly 1, 1916, 
4 per cent of the vacant posts on the medical staffs, 55 per cent of 
those on the veterinary, and 41 per cent of those on the agronomical 
staff had not been filled. It should be noted in this connection that