Dedicated to the solution of the unemployment problem as a basic factor in making democracy work, Jewish, Catholic and Protestant leaders convened in Washington today in the Interfaith Conference on Unemployment and heard outstanding leaders in Government and religion call for a “united will” to put men back to work.
Jewish groups represented were the Social Justice Committee of the Rabbinical Assembly of America and the Social Justice Commission of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Rabbis Edward L. Israel, Baltimore, and Samuel H. Goldenson, New York, participated in the discussion.
American has nine million unemployed, it was estimated by Dr. Leonard Kuvin, of the National Industrial Conference Board. He estimated that business would have to be stepped up 45 per cent above present levels to absorb all the unemployed. He said it could be done under the present system, “which is the basis of tolerance, democracy, liberty and freedom.”
Arthur Dunn, president of the “Realists’ Group,” organized last September as a protest against the Neville Chamberlain type of “wishful thinking,” said of Hitler: “He is the world’s greatest industrialist–the premier manufacturer of death and the most successful butcher of all times.” He said that without “wishful thinkers” mass murder by Hitler could not have been.”
Dunn said: “The majority of those sponsoring the interfaith conference claim to be Christian. They call the United States a Christian country. And almost the last words of Christ were, ‘Go ye unto all nations.’ Christ was no isolationist and if we ever meet him face to face we will have a hard time explaining why, until our own hides were threatened, we fail to give any real help to our unfortunate brothers in other lands.”
Rabbi Goldenson called unemployment the supreme indictment of our intelligence and common sense and said unemployment was “not unrelated” to the tragedies in Europe. “For many the cause of war is certainly the circumstance that vast numbers of men during the last generation or so have been unable to find gainful occupation. The effect of unemployment has been to create in every country large armies of dissatisfied, troubled, discontented, disgruntled men and women. These unhappy persons have naturally become resentful of and rebellious against the status quo.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
