State Legislature of Wisconsin Takes Up Insult to Sol Levitan

State Treasurer in Row with Public Buildings Superintendent; Assembly Demands Official’s Resignation (Jewish Daily Bulletin Mail Service)

Members of the State Assembly aired their opinions on intolerance in general and especially on an alleged insult to Jews by C. B. Ballard, state superintendent of public property, with the result that the lower house may adopt a resolution next week censuring Mr. Ballard.

The debate started when State Treasurer Solomon Levitan made public a letter he had received from Mr. Ballard and declared it was an insult to him and to members of his race. The assembly voted, 57 to 35, to call both parties to the controversy before it.

The Ballard letter ordered Mr. Levitan to remove a welcome sign from his office door and compared the sign to a “Jewish fire sale.” Ballard was summoned before the house to explain his attitude.

Under fire from a dozen different members of the lower house, Mr. Ballard refused to apologize for terms used in the letter and the assembly voted to appoint a committee of three to draw up a resolution on the controversy.

Mr. Levitan brought the disputed sign before the assembly. The sign reads: “Uncle Sol, your state treasurer, welcomes you.” Mr. Levitan asserted that Mr. Ballard could have asked him to remove the sign without indulging in slurring remarks.

Ballard explained that he had meant no reflection on the Jewish people in his letter, but he declared that no apology would come from him.

Mr. Ballard explained that the sign came under the head of littering the capitol.

Assemblyman Fred J. Petersen, Milwaukee, informed Mr. Ballard that his letter was not the kind that should be written by a state employee to one of the state’s constitutional officers.