In this forceful presidential address delivered in Keokuk, Iowa, on October 1, 1907, Theodore Roosevelt speaks directly to the people of Iowa about the nation's public lands and the responsibilities of citizenship. He argues that land laws must protect the actual settler and home-maker, not absentee speculators or powerful profit-seeking interests. Focusing on the realities of the dry high plains and mountain states, Roosevelt explains that standard homestead rules often fail in regions where irrigation, grazing, and range management demand different approaches. He condemns illegal fencing, overgrazing, and the exhaustion of the land, warning that public resources must be managed with fairness and foresight. Calling on small ranchmen and homesteaders to demand practical reform, he presents land policy as a matter of leadership, public duty, and the long-term health of the nation. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.