Born in Canal Winchester, Ohio, Speaks attended the public schools. He engaged in milling and the lumber business. Fish, game, and conservation officer of Ohio 1907-1918. He served as member of the Ohio National Guard for more than forty years, advancing from private to brigadier general. During the Spanish-American War served as major of the Fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, participating in the Puerto Rican campaign. Commanded the Second Brigade of the Ohio National Guard on the Mexican Border in 1916. During the First World War commanded the Seventy-third Brigade, Thirty-seventh Division. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1918 to the Sixty-sixth Congress.