This card, "A Fair Trader", chooses to illustrate the term with a beautiful girl, fair of face.
Most people think that it was the First World War that allowed women to work in such male-dominated fields as banking, but that is incorrect - in England, we have discovered Sarah Child, who became the senior partner at her husband`s bank, Child & Co in 1782. As for in America, it looked like the first woman bank president was Maggie Lena Walker, born in 1864 in Richmond Virgina, and she started the bank herself too, in 1903. Then we found Deborah Powers, who was born in 1790 in New Hampshire, and she also started her bank, from scratch, in 1877.
Of course today "A Fair Trader" is one who is ethical and understanding, and who sells products which ensure a fair wage and good living conditions to its producers and their staff. Their goods may be slightly more expensive, but knowing how that extra is used ought to make us warm inside, and not begrudging.
This set was one of the "Sweet Crop" issues, that eventually replaced the earliest issues which had begun in 1897 - though between 1899 and 1902 they ran concurrently.
"Fiscal" is often used as another word for financial, but it technically describes moneys under the control of the Government, mostly taxes and currency. It does not sound very English and it is not, it comes from Latin, "fiscus" which means a basket. If you are confused, bear with me, for it came to mean the Roman Treasury, where the money in hand was stored in large woven baskets after it had been collected and before it was entered into the account ledgers and stored in the lockrooms.
This set is described in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
FISCAL PHRASES. Sm. 62 x 38. Black and green. Front (a) with (b) without "Copyright Regt". "Over 500" back. Unnd. (40). See H.93 ... C102-15
In our updated version, there is the same text, save a new, longer code, and one alteration - for the original text should have read "Copyright Regd." for registered, not "Regt." for Regiment.
These backs have not aged well, they are light to start with and the cards all seem to have browned with age, or the ink has sunk into the card making it quite light. Perhaps the board used was the problem. Anyway, eventually, I have something that will act as an illustration. And that is all we need.