Ye Olde American Tobacco Tins Pictorial -- (Very Image Heavy)

Very cool. one of those tins says "not made by a trust" what does it mean by that?
That's a great question pylorns, thanks for asking --- this is why I like looking at all this old stuff, it invariably leads to questions and one must seek answers, if one is so inclined, and I am.
It's kinda complicated, but basically, in today's terms, it'd be called a monopoly, from wiki:

Its reference to trusts today is anachronistic. At the time of its passage, the trust was synonymous with monopolistic practice, because the trust was a popular way for monopolists to hold their businesses, and a way for cartel participants to create enforceable agreements.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act
In reference to tobacco in particular, we gotta look toward The Big Duke, from wiki:

In 1885, James Buchanan Duke acquired a license to use the first automated cigarette making machine (invented by James Albert Bonsack), and by 1890, Duke supplied 40% of the American cigarette market (then known as pre-rolled tobacco). In that year, Duke consolidated control of his four major competitors under one corporate entity, the American Tobacco Company, which was a monopoly in the American cigarette market.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Buchanan_Duke
...and it turns out that Duke was pivotal in the development of the British tobacco industry as well, because he went over there and started trying to buy out all the companies, he did in fact buy Ogden's (famous makers of St. Bruno) and a sort of tobacco war broke out --- many of the British manufacturers amalgamated into one force, known as Imperial --- it's one of the main reasons that British tobacco history is so convoluted and difficult to get a good bean on.
Click on "Formation (1901-1980)" on the official Imperial site and you'll find this:

The American Tobacco Company (ATC) set aside a massive 30 million dollars to buy up British tobacco companies one by one at the start of the 20th century.
The key figure was James Buchanan Duke, head of ATC, whose aggressive methods had created a virtual monopoly for the company in the US.
Individually, British companies, even those of the size of WD & HO Wills and John Player & Sons, could not survive.
When Duke arrived in Liverpool in 1901, he walked into Ogden's factory and bought on the spot.
Duke then approached other British companies and is reported to have burst in on the Player brothers, saying: "Hello, boys. I'm Duke from New York, come to take over your business."
...they go into further detail.

http://www.imperial-tobacco.com/index.asp?page=43
So, the "not made by a trust" is proclaiming that the company is indeed independent,

much the same thing happened in the UK too, like with the Irish firm Gallaher, who had refused

to join the Imperial Group...


I just love this kind of stuff.
Many of those tins are pretty scarce and rarely seen, I wish I could afford to actually collect 'em, but I ain't Rockefeller so I collect their images instead, I dunno exactly how to date the golden age of lithography, but these are examples of it.

"To compete with the phenomenal success of RJR's Camel, American introduces Lucky Strike [cigarettes in 1916], the name revived from an 1871 pipe tobacco brand that referenced the Gold Rush days. On the package, the motto: "It's Toasted!"
Many thanks Cortez, I never knew that! I had no idea it was a reference to the goldrush days!
I do know what L.S./M.F.T. means though!

LOL