Gates involved himself in bettering Port Arthur after losing Tennessee Coal and Iron. He was suffering from a kidney ailment and diabetes and needed to take time away from the town's business when either flared up. He still had control of the Texas Company and was able to successfully battle Rockefeller's Standard Oil, who would have liked to take over his company's land. In 1909, he was taking his usual summer holiday in Europe when members of the Republican party from the Eastern District of Texas nominated him for Congress. He wired the convention to refuse the nomination, saying that he preferred to participate through his financial contributions. Gates had purchased an animal show and a stable of performing horses with the idea of creating a circus for himself and Port Arthur, when in early 1911, he found a growth in his throat. The growth was malignant and there were times Gates was hardly able to speak.