An eight-point “Declaration on Economic Justice,” which asserts that the moral law must govern economic life, that the profit motive in business is useful only “within reasonable limits,” and which calls for an “organized and democratic partnership for the general welfare rather than a competitive struggle for individual or group advantage” has been issued here over the signatures of 122 Jewish, Catholic and Protestant leaders.
In a preface to the statement written by the Synagogue Council of America, the Jewish leaders point out that modern rabbinic bodies have supported legislation guaranteeing the right of workers to organize, outlawing child labor, establishing social security and old age pensions, unemployment insurance, fair employment practices full employment and other measures making for a just social order. “It is our moral and religious duty,” the preface says, “so to utilize the raw materials, the new machinery, the enhanced craftsmanship of industrial workers and the skill of farmers to banish from the human scene hunger, unemployment, inadequate housing, lack of educational and recreational opportunities, inadequate medical care and other social ills.”
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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.
