“[Postmaster] Brown at least supported the basic principle that government subsidies for western routes were necessary.
Congress had embraced this theory when it subsidized the Butterfield mail line in 1857 and the Hockaday line in 1858. But the notion of using the Post Office for broader public purposes was still widely resisted on philosophical grounds, and not just the Southerners. . . . As the postal deficit mounted, the movement to reduce or eliminate subsidized routes gained momentum. After a week of heated debate, Congress adjourned on March 5, 1859, without passing any Post Office appropriations.
[On March 8] Postmaster Brown, the primary champion of the subsidy policy, suddenly dropped dead at the age of 63.”