The longtime owner and publisher of the Albany Evening Journal, Barnes was most notable as a major behind the scenes player in state and U.S. politics as a leader of New York's Republican Party.

As an ally of Thomas C. Platt, Barnes became a major figure in national Republican politics; his support for successive Republican presidents William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft led to his appointment as the U.S. Surveyor of Customs for the Port of Albany, a lucrative position he held from 1899 to 1911.

In a July 1914 editorial, Roosevelt accused Barnes of being a corrupt party boss who conspired with the Democratic Tammany Hall leader Charles Francis Murphy to block progressive reforms in New York.

In 1925, Barnes sold the Evening Journal to Stephen Carlton Clark, after which he retired and lived in Armonk.

[1] His prominence led to his appointment as the U.S. Surveyor of Customs for the Port of Albany, a lucrative position Barnes held from 1899 to 1911.

[10] The Republican Party split between conservative Taft supporters and Progressive followers of Roosevelt, which enabled the election of the Democratic nominee, Woodrow Wilson.

[11] In a July 1914 editorial, Roosevelt accused Barnes of being a corrupt party boss who conspired with Charles Francis Murphy, the leader of the Democratic Tammany Hall organization, to block progressive reforms in New York.

[1] In his later years, his conservatism manifested itself as opposition to the selection of nominees for office by direct primary election, women's suffrage, and organized labor.

[1] In 1921, the Democratic organization led by Daniel P. O'Connell nominated William Stormont Hackett for mayor.

[12] Hackett's win ended Barnes' dominance over Albany city and county politics and ushered in more than 50 years of control by O'Connell's organization.

[15] He authored a biography of Thurlow Weed, and later became a world traveler and international businessman with railroad and mining interests primarily in China.