Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.

The passage frames the nation as an inherited trust rather than a commodity: citizens are urged to “cherish” landscapes, resources, and the intangible “history and romance” that give a place meaning. The appeal to “your children and your children’s children” casts conservation as an intergenerational moral duty. The warning against “selfish men or greedy interests” reflects Roosevelt’s broader Progressive-era critique of unregulated private exploitation—especially of forests, minerals, and scenic lands—and his belief that public stewardship should restrain short-term profit seeking. Overall, it is a civic call to protect both material wealth and cultural imagination from irreversible loss.