THE ZEMSTVOS AND THE UNION 79 
method of organizing the provincial and district committees of the 
Union, as well as the smaller local organs, is to be left to the discre- 
tion of the local zemstvos.” As a matter of fact, conditions differed 
greatly in the various localities and frequently required special 
methods of work. The organization of the local institutions was by 
no means uniform. There were provincial zemstvos that did not find 
it necessary even to appoint provincial committees. Such zemstvos 
would either entrust their war work to their regular boards, au- 
thorizing them to enlist the services of outsiders, or would select 
from among their own number representatives to take part in the 
local official or Red Cross organizations. This was the case in the 
provinces of Bessarabia, Olonets, Tula, Pskov, and Taurida. These 
zemstvos however were not very numerous, and most zemstvos did 
form special committees. Some of the provinces adopted for this 
purpose the comparatively simple plan followed by the Moscow 
zemstvo.® This was done by the provinces of Vitebsk, Vyatka, Ka- 
luga, and Yaroslav. At other places we find provincial committees 
of an exceedingly motley composition. Here are a few examples. At 
Nizhni-Novgorod the provincial committee added to its membership 
a large number of local civic leaders, representatives of various gov- 
ernment institutions and of municipal bodies, so that its total mem- 
bership reached about forty. At Kostroma the provincial committee 
was composed of the provincial zemstvo board, the marshal of the 
nobility, deputies chosen for the Moscow Conference, the chief of 
the sanitation bureau, the senior physicians of the zemstvo hos- 
pitals, the senior municipal medical officer, representatives of the 
district committees, and of the bureau for collections. At Kiev the 
committee numbered seventy-four members, including representa- 
tives of all hospitals. The Stavropol committee included the pro- 
vincial zemstvo board, six members of the zemstvo assembly, two 
zemstvo voters, a representative of the municipality, the chief of the 
sanitation department, a representative of the administration for 
® The Moscow arrangement was as follows: the provincial committee was 
composed of ten members chosen by the assembly, of the entire membership 
of the provincial zemstvo board, of one representative for each district com- 
mittee, of one member of the provincial zemstvo sanitation bureau, and of one 
representative of the provincial sanitation board. The district committee was 
composed of five members appointed by the assembly, and of all the members 
of the district zemstvo board.