18 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
However, this very wide sphere left to the competence of the
zemstvo institutions was in practice hedged in by the narrow limits
of their authority in the most essential fields. Thus, in the educa-
tional domain, the zemstvo was to attend only to the economic needs
of the schools (construction and maintenance of buildings, supply
of books and other necessaries, payment of teachers’ salaries, etc.).
It was denied the right to alter the curricula in its own schools, nor
was it permitted to appoint or dismiss the teachers, and whenever
it wished to open a new school it had to obtain special permission
from the central authorities.
Provincial and District Zemstvos.
In conformity with the administrative division of the Empire into
provinces and districts, the zemstvos were likewise classified as pro-
vincial and district zemstvos. But the sphere of the two different
institutions was not sharply separated by law; they were free to
divide their work among themselves as might seem best to them as
the result of practical experience. There were provinces where the
provincial zemstvos at once took a leading part, and there were
others where the district zemstvos for a long time stubbornly de-
fended their absolute independence. In course of time, however, their
respective fields were delimited, along certain broad lines, more or
less uniformly in all zemstvo provinces.
The provincial zemstvos took charge, to begin with, of such in-
stitutions and activities as by their very nature were capable of
functioning only in the more important centers of population, or
whose maintenance and support would prove beyond the capacities
of the district zemstvos. Among these were hospitals for the treat-
ment of mental and other special diseases, homes for abandoned
children, laboratories for the manufacture of serums for the preven-
tion of infectious diseases and animal plagues, insurance organiza-
tions, and similar institutions. The provincial zemstvos also main-
tained regular staffs of experts to offer practical guidance in the
work of the district zemstvos. There were also sanitary and veteri-
nary organizations, agronomical staffs, organs charged with the
construction and proper upkeep of roads, workshops for school
equipment, exhibitions of the products of cottage industries and
various other things, etc. Lastly, and mainly under the jurisdiction
of the provincial zemstvos, there were certain institutions of a semi-
