Elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-eighth Congress, Baler was a U.S. Representative for the sixth district of New York from March 4, 1903 to March 3, 1905. His single term is office was marked with controversy as Baker stayed true to his reformist philosophy, and quickly earned the nickname "No Pass" Baker for declining the free railroad passes that were then regularly handed out to legislators by the B &amp; O Railroad. A pacifist, he introduced legislation to disband the United States Military Academy at West Point and another motion condemning the "Bloody Sunday" massacre in St. Petersburg, Russia.