(Harcave, 1968, p.302). Meanwhile, problems were growing too. Road building was slow as ever, some peasants continued to resist such progressive measures as inspection of cattle for communicable disease; students were still circulating petitions for the restoration of university autonomy. (Steinberg, 1995,p.47). The above events, however, did not suggest to the tsar or his advisers there was anything wrong with the policy. By the end of the century, a million people were crowded into St.Petersburg and Moscow - thousands more than could be properly cared for, even at the lowest standards of health and comfort. Because of the lack of sanitation and the impurity of water, there were frequent outbursts of dysentery and typhoid fever. A wave of strikes went through the country. Russia was facing a serious and critical problem, but Nicholas was not willing to accept people!.
's view or make any changes. During the academic year 1897-98 there was a noticeable increase of protest groups and strikes against authority. The Minister of Education was assassinated by an expelled student during the same year. In the summer of 1902, the black earth region was experiencing an outbreak of the worst peasant violence since the 1880's. Most of the people were blaming Witte for both the depression and the bad harvest, and the tsar was inclined to let him handle the problems and face alone the resentment that was building up against him. (Harcave, 1968, p.313).
Several years later a mystic healer, Gregory Rasputin, gained Nicholas's and his wife Alexandra's confidence. The so-called "holy man" gained his hold over the tsarina by his ability to heal the tsarevich, who suffered from what is believed to have been hemophilia. Rasputin's evident power to help Nicholas" son's hemophiliac bleeding seemed to prove that God worked through him (Steinberg, 1995, p13). She kept him in her entourage despite well-documented stories of his drinking and womanizing.
