Inquiry Started on Alleged Anti-jewish Leaflets in New York

The district attorney’s office of Queens county began an investigation today into allegedly anti-Semitic leaflets circulated by a defeated candidate in the New York State primary election last week.

District Attorney Frank O’Connor said the investigation will deal with the possibility that the leaflets, distributed by James E. McGinnis, might be a violation of a new section of the State Penal Code which provides that a person responsible for printing any publicly circulated handbill must list the name and address of the printer.

McGinnis, who ran a poor third in the race for the Democratic nomination of the State Assembly from the Queens 11th Assembly district, distributed the leaflet which listed six obviously Jewish names as individuals who had fought against sectarian practices in public schools. The leaflet also asked the voters if they wanted a “Pitkin Avenue” in Queens, a reference to a famous commercial area in Brooklyn in which Jewish merchants who keep their stores closed on the Jewish Sabbath conduct a brisk trade on Sunday. The winning candidate in the primary is Jewish, Hyman Greenberg.