38 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR 
agricultural purposes amounted to 28,900,000 rubles; and in the 
case of public health and veterinary work, we find that the zemstvos 
spent far more than the Government. In 1910, zemstvo appropria- 
tions for public health were 48,000,000 rubles, and for veterinary 
service, 4,700,000 rubles, whereas the corresponding appropriations 
of the Government were only 3,700,000 rubles and 2,100,000 rubles. 
To gain a clear conception of the vast extent of the work that was 
being done by the zemstvos on the eve of the War, we shall here con- 
sider in greater detail their operations in the several branches. 
Education. 
As we have seen, the expenditure on public instruction by the 
forty-three provincial and 447 district zemstvos in 1914 amounted 
to 106,975,000 rubles. Of this sum, 28,153,000 rubles was received 
by the zemstvos from the Government in the shape of a subsidy for 
the needs of the elementary schools, and the balance, amounting to 
78,822,000 rubles, was furnished by the zemstvos. The main portion 
of the educational budget of the zemstvos was devoted to the pri- 
mary schools. As we have no exact data at our disposal, concerning 
the number of the zemstvo schools, we can state only approximately 
that they numbered about 50,000. There were about 80,000 teachers 
and more than 3,000,000 pupils in these schools. 
As the result of a program of intensive school building, the zem- 
stvos were able to house most of their schools in their own buildings 
and had no need to hire accommodation. Many zemstvos took par- 
ticular care in building and equipping schools in conformity with 
the latest requirements. 
Officially denied the right to intervene in the teaching in their 
schools, the zemstvos nevertheless found opportunity to be very ac- 
tive in the improvement of instruction. Six provincial zemstvos 
(Ryazan, Tver, St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Kazan, and Taurida) 
maintained their own teachers’ colleges. If other zemstvos had no 
such institutions, it was only because of the opposition of the Gov- 
ernment. Three provincial zemstvos (Tver, Yaroslav, Voronezh) 
shortly before the outbreak of the War established regular training 
courses for teachers, where the latter were given an opportunity to 
become acquainted with the latest methods. 
After the revolution of 1905, when the Government showed more 
confidence in the activities of the zemstvos, conventions of zemstvo