Beall was a member of the
Texas House of Representatives, 1892–1895. He served in the
Texas Senate, 1895–1899, and was elected as a Democrat to the 58th Congress, and to the five succeeding Congresses, March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1915. In Congress, he was chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Justice (62nd Congress). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1914. Along with members of the southern delegation to Congress, Beall was opposed to
William Jennings Bryan on the latter's 1909 support of
Prohibition, citing the Texas preference of handling the matter on local levels. On July 4, 1911, Congressman Beall spoke before a crowd of 1,500 at
Meriden, Connecticut for that city's Independence Day celebration. The crowd found him "charming" and "eloquent" as he spoke of the nation's history, his faith in God, and of the heroes of the old South. ==Later years==