U.S. Rabbis Favor Limitation of Capitalism, Survey Shows

If the opinions of 203 rabbis are a criterion, the American Jewish rabbinate is dissatisfied with the economic system in this country and would like to see some drastic-but not too drastic changes effected.

The opinions were expressed in the form of yes-and-no answers to a questionnaire that was sent out to 100,000 clergymen and rabbis by a group headed by Kirby Page, editor and author, and including Edward L. Israel, S. Parkes Cadman, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Daniel A. Poling and others. Answers to the questionnaire were made by 20,870, 203 of whom were rabbis.

The first eight questions, answers to which were made public yesterday, were concerned with war and 73 percent of the 203 voted against it. The final seven questions of the fifteen were concerned with economics.

In keeping with the pacifistic response made to the first batch of questions, the answers to the second group indicate the liberalism of the rabbis. Only four of the entire number, however, would go to the extreme of favoring a communistic system of government, while eighty-four desired a socialistic state and eighty-seven would be content under a drastically reformed system of capitalism. None voted for a Fascist form of government.

FAVOR CAPITALIST LIMITATION

An overwhelming majority of the rabbis indicated that they wanted a major operation of one sort or another performed on capitalism as it now stands. To the question “Do you favor the drastic limitation, through the inheritance tax, of the amount of wealth that may be inherited by an individual,” 189 of the 203 rabbis answered in the affirmative. One hundred and seventy answered yes to the question “Do you favor the drastic limitation, through the income tax and the renewal of the tax-exempt sources, of the annual income that may be legally retained by an individual?”

Compulsory unemployment insurance under government administration found 192 voting aye and national unions of workers (instead of local company unions) received the approval of 16. The question of private ownership of banks found thirty-eight rabbis favoring them as against 108 who put their faith in a “system of socialized banking as a public service.” On this question forty-eight were in doubt, not expressing an opinion.

Question number fourteen brough the greatest agreement. The question was: “Which economic system appears to you to be less antagonistic to and more consistent with the ideals and methods of Jesus and the noblest of the Hebrew prophets?” The answers were 192 for a cooperative commonwealth of some sort as against four who expressed their continued faith in capitalism, while seven didn’t answer the question at all.