ORGANIZATION OF SUPPLY 183 
provincial zemstvos in the north. Thus, the zemstvo of Vladimir as- 
signed for a similar purpose the sum of 650,000 rubles in July, 
1915, while the zemstvo of Petrograd made an appropriation of 
4,400,000 rubles. 
As a typical example of the organization of the food supply for 
the civilian population, we may quote here a resolution adopted by 
the zemstvo assembly of Temnikov (province of Tambov) on De- 
cember 9, 1916. By this resolution it was decided (1) to apply for 
a loan from credits granted to the Special Council on Food Supply, 
of the amount of 100,000 rubles, with the object of combating the 
high cost of living; (2) to leave it to the discretion of the board to 
organize the purchase and distribution and to increase the stocks of 
articles of prime necessity with a view to their sale at cost price 
through the medium of the local codperative stores, agricultural 
loan societies, and zemstvo warehouses; (3) to permit the zemstvo 
funds to extend credits to the consumers’ coéperative societies ; and, 
(4) in the event of the Government’s refusal to grant the loan, to 
obtain a short-term loan of 100,000 rubles from the municipal and 
zemstvo banks. 
The food supply work of the zemstvos and their Union was car- 
ried out by the provincial and district zemstvos. The committees of 
the Union took little part in it. The Central Committee of the Zem- 
stvo Union concerned itself with this problem only in the second half 
of 1916, when a subcommittee was instructed to work out a detailed 
plan of food supply. This subcommittee, however, was the last to be 
organized, and as it operated only for a few months prior to the 
Revolution it succeeded in accomplishing very little. It organized a 
representation of the Zemstvo Union in all commissions of the Spe- 
cial Council on Food Supply. These representatives then combined 
into a separate committee, to which a secretariat at Petrograd was 
attached. A special bureau was also set up at Petrograd to make 
sure that the food supply measures of the zemstvos received proper 
consideration in the Special Council and other government institu- 
tions. Instructors were trained, to be placed at the disposal of the 
local food supply organizations, and several zemstvo conferences on 
food supply were held. They discussed various economic problems 
and prepared valuable reports dealing with the organization of 
supply.® 
8 Izvestia (Bulletin), Nos. 52-53, pp. 81-32.