The evening times., 1901-10-08
THE LONDON CIGARETTE.
"FnES' and Their Consumption in
the British Metropolis.


..say. guv'nor, gfve-us yer fag photo"
The speaker writes our Representative -
was pale. moou-faced youus urchin wi IN
large. mourufal ewes and sock OF thr. e.
half-peuuy evening papers under his arm
And / was coming out Of a tohacconist's 5
shop not Tar from CharinEcross. What "a
flag photo" was had not the slightest
notion. stiu less why the yoGugster
should suppose such a thing 20 be in my
possession
What is a fag photo2' ] asked
"Gaur- ne replied couJemDtuousiy.
them pIctors Of generals an cricS tiers
an beautiful lydies wot yet gifts IN
throp'uy packets. If yer got one %. Ouaife
or Had.u-Poweu yer can ave "a Echo for
it
Then il dawucd upon me that ~fag' is
the street boys slang Tor cigarette. de-
rived either from the semblance OF a bun
die Co faEEuJs. or from their thrifty habit
of picking up the discarded fag-euds
W hich IN, smoker has dropped ON the
pavement. The "fag photo" was. OF
course. the picture generally inserted in
each little box But there stiu remained
the curious fact of the zeai of this poor
little chap as an ara collector ana his will
iuguess TO barter even one of his papers
for an almost yaIueless picture. a little
conversation and ! few enquiries from
tobaccouists threw "a good deal of light
on the mystery,
Il seems that various artful advsrtis-
ing schemes are adopted To pogularize
particular brands of Inexpensive
smokes" In one packet you may have
an insurance coupon guaranteeing your
heirs EIg9 If YOU are killed by accident
rraT. in aH
train or cab. and SO for yourself If the
accident is not fatal The coupon bears
tho encouraging announcement, "E65'
u9id already" and doubtless the brand
must be popular with the .scorchinE" cy-
cIist Another packet contains "a coupon
which. with fixed number of others like
IL entities the bearer TO select a toy of "A
certain value: and yet another gives a
couDou. ten Of which will procure an
eleventh packet of cigarettes II can
easily be seen how the collection OF these
coupons becomes "A matter of interest 20
children The boy desiring some coveted
TOW which is one or two coupons short
win naturally be tempted 20 buy packet
o- two To complete his collection. OF to
expedite the consumption Of cigarettes
by his big brother When the prize is
merely another packet of cigarettes OF
course the boy viii proudly consume the
vhins which are the fruit of his perse-
ycTauCc.
But the most attractive form Of adver-
rissmcut is that which had enErosSed the
energies Of my young friend. the news
vandcr of the pavement I'm this case "a
hundred numbered photographs Of celeb
rities-footlight beauties and bantam
weight boxers. and crack >owlers and Ia
mons ceneraIs-were distributed among
the packets sold ANY one making up a
complete collection Of the hundred was
emitted 20 q sovereign from the makers
The -emptatiOn 90 boy who only needed
"a dozen or SO 20 make up the set 10 buy
packets OF get others 10 buy them Tor the
purpose Of winning the prize was OF
course. enormous An investment of a
shilling or so might enable him 20 draw
/ the coveted golden coin And. naturally.
the system led TO barter of particular
numbers in the series and an active prop
J agandd among the boys Tor the sale of