France was born in Cameron, Missouri and attended the common schools in the area and the Canandaigua Academy in Canandaigua, New York. In 1895, he graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He also attended the University of Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany and finally, in 1897, graduated from the medical department of Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

France began to teach natural science at the Jacob Tome Institute of Port Deposit, Maryland in 1897, but resigned later to enter the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore, Maryland. He commenced the practice of medicine in Baltimore after graduation in 1903.

France was elected to the Maryland State Senate in 1906, serving until 1908. He left the Senate in 1908 to engage in the field of finance. He served as the secretary to the medical and surgical faculty of Maryland from 1916-1917.

After a short time out of politics, France re-entered the political arena in 1916 and was elected to the United States Senate. During the 65th Congress, he served in the Senate as the chairman of the Committee on Public Health and National Quarantine. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1922, losing his seat to Democratic rival William Cabell Bruce.

Following his defeat, France became President of the Republic International Corporation and also resumed the practice of medicine in Port Deposit. When Senator Phillips Lee Goldsborough announced his retirement from the Senate in 1934, France attempted to win the vacant seat left by Goldsborough. He was unsuccessful in the election of 1934, losing to Democratic rival George L. P. Radcliffe. He died in Port Deposit five years later, and is buried in Hopewell Cemetery, near the city.