by the suppression of
criticism should not be maintained. Furthermore, it is the lesson of
history that attempts to suppress ideas result only in their more rapid
propagation."
The foregoing is the view of the Industrial Relations Commission as it
appears on page 98 and 99 of Volume One of their official report to the
United States Government.
[Illustration: Jail at EVERETT]
The growth of a public sentiment favorable to the Industrial Workers of
the World was clearly shown on November 18th, at which time the bodies
of Felix Baran, Hugo Gerlot and John Looney were turned over to the
organization for burial. Gustav Johnson had already been claimed by
relatives and a private funeral held, and the body of Abraham Rabinowitz
sent to New York at the request of his sister.
Thousands of workers, each wearing a red rose or carnation, formed in
line at the undertaking parlors and then silently marched four abreast
behind the three hearses and the automobiles containing the eighteen
women pall bearers and the floral tributes to the martyred dead.
To the strains of the "Red Flag" and the "Marseillaise" the grim and
imposing cortege wended its way thru the crowded city streets, meeting
with expressions of sorrow and sympathy from those who lined the
sidewalk. Delegations of workers from Everett, Tacoma, and other
Washington cities and towns were in line, and a committee from Portland,
Ore., brought appropriate floral offerings. The solidarity of labor was
shown in this great funeral procession, by all odds the largest ever
held in the Northwest.
Arriving at the graveside in Mount Pleasant cemetery the rebel women
reverently bore the coffins from the hearses to the supporting frame,
surrounded by boughs of fragrant pine, above the yawning pit. A special
chorus of one hundred voices led the singing of "Workers of the World,
Awaken," and as the song died away Charles Ashleigh began the funeral
oration.
Standing on the great hill that overlooks the whole city of Seattle, the
speaker pointed out the various industries with their toiling thousands
and referred to the smoke that shadowed large portions of the view as
the black fog of oppression and ignorance which it was the duty of the
workers to dispel in order to create the Workers' Commonwealth. The
entire address was marked by a simple note of resolution to continue
the work of education until the workers have come into their own, not a
trace of bitterness evincing it
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