ACTIVITIES BEFORE THE WAR 49 
vincial zemstvos were included in this union. In the same year the 
amount of 532,758 rubles was collected in premiums by this organi- 
zation, while 93,625 rubles was paid out against claims. The funds 
were used by the provincial zemstvos not only for the insurance 
business proper, but also for various measures of fire prevention, on 
which large amounts of money were spent. Most of the zemstvos 
supervised the building plans for new settlements with a view to the 
reduction of the fire peril, and many other zemstvos issued loans and 
paid bonuses for the construction of fireproof buildings, besides es- 
tablishing brickyards and tile works, opening stores to sell iron roof- 
ing material, and taking other measures useful in the prevention of 
fire. In 1915 the insurance organization of the Moscow provincial 
zemstvo alone sold 1,281,215 puds of iron roofing. Four provincial 
zemstvos, those of Tambov, Simbirsk, Novgorod, and Saratov, had 
special schools to demonstrate fireproof buildings. Extensive con- 
struction of fireproof school buildings served to popularize the idea. 
These activities of the zemstvos were frequently financed by the 
Government. 
The zemstvos exerted themselves greatly to form fire brigades in 
the rural districts. During the three-year period, 1912-1914, they 
spent 2,138,658 rubles on the purchase of fire-extinguishing ap- 
paratus. Thanks to all these measures of prevention, the ravages 
that fire had been causing among the houses of the peasantry were 
being rapidly reduced. 
Road Construction and Maintenance. 
The care of the roads, with the exception of some state highways 
ander the direct administration of the Ministry of Transport, was 
left to the zemstvos. For a long time this branch of their activities 
made very slow progress. Only after 1895, with the passage of a law 
authorizing the zemstvos to establish a special road fund, and later, 
when a portion of the government funds appropriated for road con- 
struction and upkeep was turned over to the zemstvos, did the latter 
proceed more energetically with the improvement of the public high- 
ways. In 1913 the provision made for this purpose by the budgets of 
all the zemstvos amounted already to 17,500,000 rubles. 
In the same year, the network of roads under the control of the 
zemstvos attained a total length of 189,682 versts.® These included 
8 One verst = 0.7 mile.