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[stamp: THE WHITE HOUSE
JUN 30 1916
RECEIVED]

June 29th, 1916.

Dear Mr. President:

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Viewing with interest the coming
election, and the part the Negro race will have in it, the
officers of the Forum, a weekly publication, would thank
you for some message, or some expression from you to the
colored electors of the Country, to be published in its
July issue, and circulated through the two hundred and fifty
colored journals in the United States.

The position of the Administration
towards the colored soldiers now in Mexico, and the President-
ial proclamation of July, 1915, urging support of the Negro
Exposition at Richmond, Virginia; the aid given from time to
time, to solve the Negro Industrial problems have naturally
attracted the attention of the intelligent Negroes of this
Country.

With the thought in view of aiding
the cause you espouse, and bringing you in closer touch with
the Race, the publishers of the Forum cherish the hope that
it might not be esteemed unworthy of your notice, on their
invitation, to respond to the question, "If you could speak
commandingly to the whole Negro race of America, what would
you say to them?"

With sincere regard,

Your obedient servant,
Rufus Lewis Perry
President
[handwritten symbol]

Hon. Woodrow Wilson,
President of the United States,
White House, Washington, D. C.

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