After graduating, Borland commenced the practice of law in Kansas City, Missouri. He assisted in the organization of the Kansas City School of Law and served as dean from 1895 through 1909. Borland served as member of the board of freeholders directed to draft a charter for Kansas City in 1898. He also engaged as an author on law subjects.[1][2]
Borland was elected as a Democrat to the sixty-first and four succeeding Congresses, and served from March 4, 1909 until his death.[1] In 1914, he sponsored the District of Columbia Improvements Legislation, informally known as the Borland Amendment.[3] Borland also introduced the Calder–Borland Bill (later called the Standard Time Act) with William M. Calder. The bill proposed daylight saving time for workers in the country. Borland was an advocate for prohibition and supported the Kahn amendment, a bill supporting military preparedness prior to the involvement of the United States in World War I. He later supported the Selective Service Act of 1917.[2] He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1918 to the Sixty-sixth Congress, losing the Democratic primary to William T. Bland.[1][2]
