After his father's illness and retirement from Congress, the family moved to Colorado Springs where his mother later married U.S.
He returned to Buffalo and spent the next two years in the law office of Rogers, Locke & Milburn.
In 1905, Governor Higgins appointed him to the Board of Managers for the State Industrial School in Rochester, a position he held until his resignation in 1907.
[2] A staunch Republican, Bass was appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of New York by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.
[6] He continued working in the law firm as a senior partner until his death, by then known as Kenefick, Bass, Letchworth, Baldy & Phillips.