Leasing News Advisor
Hugh Swandel

Hugh Swandel
Senior Managing Director - Canada
www.thealtagroup.com
204.477.0703 direct
204.996.4844 mobile
hswandel@thealtagroup.com

Hugh Swandel is the senior managing director of The Alta Group in Canada. The Alta Group is a global consultancy practice specializing in the asset based finance industry. Mr. Swandel is well known to the industry and a frequent speaker at industry events and a current member of the Canadian Finance and Leasing Association board of directors. During recent years Hugh Swandel has assisted many top Canadian industry firms on a variety of projects including market entry studies, acquisitions, due diligence, funding and strategic planning.

With extensive North American contacts in the equipment finance and leasing industry, Hugh has a strong reputation as an effective negotiator of win/win agreements involving mergers and acquisitions, business development, market entry, operations and analysis, securitization and other matters of importance to lessors.

Hugh is on the boards of directors of the Canadian Finance and Leasing Association (CFLA) and is the immediate past President of the National Equipment Financing Association (NEFA, USA). He also is a member of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association of America (ELFA).

In 2006 and again in 2010, Hugh received the Canadian leasing industry’s highest honor when he was named “CFLA Member of the Year.” In 2010 Mr. Swandel was also named President and a member of the Executive Committee of the National Equipment and Finance Association in 2011. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has had several articles published in leading industry magazines.

During the Global Credit Crisis Hugh was retained by the Canadian Finance and Leasing Industry to prepare materials and provide insight into the impact of the credit crisis on Canadian independent finance companies. Mr. Swandel presented to the advisory committee to the Minister of Finance and was later asked to provide commentary to the CD Howe Institute at policy development discussion with government and industry representatives. Mr. Swandel has also been a presenter at industry conference, published in numerous industry magazines and co-authored a research document for the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation on the Canadian Market.

Prior to founding his consulting firm, Swandel and Associates, in 2001, Hugh served as president and chief operation officer of Electronic Financial Group (EFG). EFG was a Canadian company that launched a multi lending web based credit system. Earlier, Hugh spent 10 years with National Leasing Group in a variety of senior positions. National Leasing Group is Canadian lessor that has won numerous awards for excellence in management and innovation

 

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Sales Makes it Happen by Steve Chriest

Ducks in Eagle School

Anyone who has managed salespeople must admit to making hiring mistakes. At one time or another all of us have found ourselves unable to resist the temptation of hiring the next great sales superstar, even though our intuition made us uneasy, or something in their story just didn’t jibe with reality.

If you continue to rely on “gut checks” in your hiring process, you are likely to make more bad hires than necessary. I once heard someone admonish sales managers: “Don’t send your ducks to eagle school!” It just won’t work. You send the ducks out hunting, they find a rabbit and they make friends with it! You then yell at the ducks, “No, no, no, reread page twenty-one of your hunting manual!”

The same thing happens when you send the wrong salespeople on a hunting expedition for new prospects and you realize that they make friends with potential customers, buying them lunch, treating them to sporting events, and showering them with expensive gifts. In frustration, you yell, “No, no, no, bring in the orders, close the prospects, close the prospects!”

The first step in avoiding hiring mistakes is to recognize some of the myths about sales. A big myth about sales is that a truly superior sales person is equally good in any sales situation. Just because ducks, like eagles, can fly, doesn’t mean they are good candidates for eagle hunting school. It’s the same with salespeople. Just because a salesperson has shown exceptional skills at hunting for new customers doesn’t mean she is a good candidate for managing strategic account relationships.

Another myth about sales is that you can train talent. The truth is talent cannot be trained. You either have the talent to sing like an opera star or you don’t. Practice and training can improve innate talent, but the talent must already exist. The experts tell us that the performance of talented salespeople can be improved by up to 20%.

Let’s look at the numbers. If you can improve someone in the 80th percentile by 20%, they can become a 96th percentile performer. The bad news, unfortunately, is that all the time and money in the world won’t boost a 20th percentile performer past the 25th percentile!

Nearly 45% of all money spent by business on employee training and education is spent on sales. At some point companies will demand a better system for selecting sales candidates whose talents match the job for which they are hired. For many companies this may become their single most important investment to improve market share and profitability. Finally, avoiding bad hires is a true win-win. The company and sales managers win because time and resources aren’t squandered on candidates that just don’t have the talent or the will to succeed in a specific area of sales. The candidates win because they are free to pursue other opportunities more suited to their talents and predispositions.

About the author: Steve Chriest is the founder of Selling UpTM (www.selling-up.com), a sales consulting firm specializing in sales improvement for organizations of all types and sizes in a variety of industries. He is also the author of Selling The E-Suite, The Proven System for Reaching and Selling Senior Executives and Five Minute Financial Analyst, Basic CREDIT & Analysis Tools for Non-Accountants. He was the CEO of a very successful leasing company and executive at a major company. You can reach Steve at schriest@selling-up.com.

Working Capital Loans $10,000-$250,000
www.channelpartnersllc.com p: (763) 746-7760 f: (763) 592-8297 information@channelpartnersllc.com

 

 

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“Documentation” Fees, Semantics and a War Story
by Michael J. Witt, Esq.

Anyone who pays attention to what is now going on Congress and a number of state legislatures knows that watchdog debtor-protection advocates are pushing for all kinds of reforms relating to fees that banks and finance companies should be allowed to charge their customers. Leasing and lending activity is at a multi-year low, and many lessors, banks and finance companies are trying to make up for decreased revenues by increasing the ancillary fees they charge their customers. “Fee rip-offs” is becoming a household expression.

Generally, the law relating to commercial leasing and lending allows a lessor or lender to charge “reasonable” fees, provided the fee is adequately disclosed to the customer beforehand. Having said that, though, the fee must be adequately described and detailed. If the right contractual language is not used, then a pitfall awaits the unwary lessor or lender.

Here’s a small war story from my days as an in-house equipment finance attorney:

A discounter charged his lessee a $349 fee described in the application simply as a “Documentation Fee.” Ten days later, he sold the transaction to my company. A few days later, we filed a UCC financing statement and charged our out-of-pocket costs to the lessee, which was permitted under the lease. Upon receiving the invoice containing the UCC charge, the lessee had had just about enough. A critical mass of perceived abuse formed in his thinking. He refused to pay the UCC filing fee and, while he was at it, questioned the legality of the $349 “documentation” fee.

A small-ticket lease documentation set takes the average broker or discounter just about four-and-a-half minutes to complete, by my estimate. The discounter fills in about ten boxes on the form, and he’s done. Meaning: this particular lessee had a valid point. From his perspective, the fee was a rip-off. When he called us to complain, we referred him back to the discounter, who agreed to refund all but $100 of the fee.

The moral of the story? You can charge your customer a reasonable fee for putting the transaction together, but you’re skating on thin ice if you call it a “documentation” fee. Use a more expansive term like “processing fee.” (Avoid “origination fee” because some states have statutes limiting what can be charged as an “origination” fee in loan transactions, and it’s possible they could apply to your “nominal” lease transactions.) In your document, disclose that the fee is intended to cover the broad panoply of work that goes into getting the deal done for the lessee. State that the fee covers a multiplicity of pre-transactional work, “including but not limited to” activities such as credit investigation time and expense, the cost to obtain credit bureau reports, and the documentation of the transaction.

In short, the law will usually charge you with the obligation to be precise in your terminology. It will hold no sympathy for your argument that, in using the term “documentation” fee, “it’s simply a matter of semantics.”

MICHAEL J. WITT LAW OFFICES
4342 Oakwood Lane
West Des Moines, IA 50265
Tel: (515) 657-8706
Mobile: (515) 868-1067
Fax: (515) 223-2352
witt-law@live.com
(Former Advanta Leasing and Wells Fargo Equipment Finance attorney)

 

 

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Top Stories August 6--August 8
(You May Have Missed)

Here are the top stories opened by readers:

(1) Inside Marlin's 2nd Quarter 10Q
(What was not in detail in the Press Release)
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Aug2013/8_06.htm#marlin

(2) Leasing 102 by Mr. Terry Winders, CLP
“Signatures in Blue Ink”
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Aug2013/8_06.htm#signatures

(3) Placard--Rule #1
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Aug2013/8_06.htm#placard

(4) Companies Who Do Not Notify Leases
End of Contract or Use PPB
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Aug2013/8_06.htm#dont_notify

(5) Pepperdine Private Capital Survey
"Alarming Low" Application-to-Loan Ratio
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Aug2013/8_08.htm#pepperdine

(6) New Hires--Promotions
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Aug2013/8_08.htm#hires

(7) Archives---August 8, 2000
Matsco Sold to Greater Bay Bank
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Aug2013/8_08.htm#archives

(8) Taycor Financial is Expanding Its Sales Department
http://www.prurgent.com/2013-08-01/pressrelease309646.htm

(9) Sales Makes it Happen by Steve Chriest
Financial Statements
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Aug2013/8_08.htm#statements

(10) Both Positive and Negative Implications
for Equipment Lessors in New York Decision
By Frank Peretore & Scott D. Chait
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Aug2013/8_06.htm#both

 

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The Financial Waves Take Down another Small Bank
Without Access to Capital They Sink

Bank of Wausau, Wausau, Wisconsin, was closed with Nicolet National Bank, Green Bay, Wisconsin, to assume all of the deposits. Founded May 25, 1999, the bank had 13 full time employees as of March 31, 2013. End of year 2006, there were 24 full time employees.

Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio 0.0046

(photo: www.wausaudailyherald.com)

The FDIC said it first notified the bank that it was undercapitalized in November 2011 and the bank submitted two restoration plans that failed to meet the requirements of federal law.

"The bank's condition continues to deteriorate," according to the FDIC directive. "The bank's management has not demonstrated the ability to return the bank to a safe and sound condition."

Bank of Wausau President Nancy Quinlisk did not immediately return a telephone message Tuesday.
http://www.waow.com/story/21856358/2013/04/02/fdic-bank-of-wausau-is-undercapitalized

'Founded by French fur traders in the mid-1800's looking to settle on the mighty Wisconsin River, Wausau is located near the center of Wisconsin's large northern forests. Getting its name from the Ojibwe language for 'a faraway place.' Wausau is the core city for many of the small towns founded in and around Rib Mountain."
http://wausau.wisconsin.com/

2010 census shows 39,114: Mostly German ancestry but 11% Asian, mostly Hmong ("Hmong immigrants started to arrive in Wausau in the late 1970's after the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. The Hmong are originally from Laos and assisted the American CIA in covert operations against the Pathet Lao and the Vietcong. Catholic and Lutheran church members assisted in the assimilation of the Hmong population in Wausau.")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wausau,_Wisconsin

"Wausau has 12 banks with 41 branch locations, three trust companies and three holding companies in the metropolitan area. There are also 13 open membership credit unions with 18 branch locations."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wausau,_Wisconsin

It appears from a random sampling of banks in Wausau, that the smaller banks were having much more trouble with lack of access to capital to manage survival.

(Note: Integrity and River Valley are Hq. in Wausau. River Valley has 258 full time employees at 16 locations. Integrity has 17 full time employees, thus it is compared to Bank of Wausau.

(Nicolet Hq. is in Green Bay, 168 full time employees, and is the purchaser of Bank of Wausau. Abby Hq. is in Abbosford, 73 full time employees, and Woodtrust in Wisconsin Rapids,90 full time employees. Employment numbers are as of 3/31: This is a random sampling and not "scientific.")

(In millions, unless otherwise)

Charge Offs at Bank of Wausau

2006 $16,000 ( $17,000 1-4 family, $5,000 indiv.,$3,000 cards, -$4 commercial, -$2,000 consumer)
2007 $29,000 ( $21,000 1-4 family, $7,000 commercial, $1,000indiv.,$1,000 credit cards)
2008 $304,000 ($187,000 nonfarm/nonres.,$97,000 1-4 family, $13,000 indiv., $12,000 credit cards, $7,000 commercial/Ind.)
2009 $748,000 ( $252,000 commercial/ind.,$191,000 individuals, $167,000 1-4 family, $123,000 nonfarm/nonr.res, $11,000 credit cards
2010 $1.2 ( $759,000 nonfarm/nonres.,$380,000 1-4 family, $71,000 const./land, $26,000 consumer, $13,000 commercial, industrial
2011 $1.4 ($1.0 construction/land, $567,000 multifamily, $479,000 nonfarm/nonres., $374,000 commercial/industrial, $9,000 individual, $7,000 credit c.)
2012 $501,000 ( $402,000 nonfarm/nonres., $63,000 1-4 family, $28,000 commercial/Industrial, $8,000 individuals, $8,000 credit cards)
6/30 $108,000 ($85,000 nonfarm/nonres.,$18,000 1-4 family, $5,000 other loans)

Construction and Land, 1-4 family multiple residential, Multiple Family Residential, Non-Farm Non-Residential loans.
(All financial numbers from FDIC.gov)

As of June 30, 2013, Bank of Wausau had approximately $43.6 million in total assets and $40.7 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Nicolet National Bank agreed to purchase approximately $29.9 million of the failed bank's assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $13.5 million.

List of Bank Failures:
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

Bank Beat:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/Bank_Beat.htm

Classified ads— Asset Management

Leasing Industry Outsourcing
(Providing Services and Products)

Asset Management: Atlanta, GA premier provide accounts receivable management functions from 3rd Party contingency collections to Portfolio Purchasing. Contact George Elliott, National Account Manager. 678-694-9063, www.westassetmanagement.com	Asset Management: Boston, MA Nationwide appraisals, remarketing, audits, inspections and more! Over 15-years industry experience and dedicated to deliver personal, prompt, professional services.  Call Chris @ 508-785-1277 Email
Asset Management: Minneapolis, MN NetSentric provides services to leasing companies: Inspection, Appraisals, Auditing, Warehousing, Repossession, Asset Management, Repairs, Remarketing and Field Service for Electronics and Computing Technology. Email: jcahill@netsentricinc.com	Asset Management: Monroe, NC Recover a greater return on your investment.  We specialize in the woodworking, pallet, sawmill and forestry industries.   Carolinamachinerysales.com/ Melinda Meier (704)288-1904 x103
Asset Management: Nationwide  BUYER/LENDER BEWARE. Don't sign anything until Collateral Verifications Inc. goes onsite, knocks on the door and gets the facts. http://www.i-collateral.com Email: mark@i-collateral.com	Nationwide  Seasoned and fair priced workforce is at your service for all lease collections, repossessions, and asset liquidations, appraisals.  Call Nassau Asset Management 800-462-7728  dcastagna@nasset.com
Asset Management: NorthWest Sequent provides collateral recovery, remarketing, and storage services to lenders with assets located in the greater Pacific Northwest. Professional services at reasonable pricing. Contact rossr@sequentam.com	Asset Management: Orange City, FL We help Lessors Liquidate un-wanted Assets valued at $750,000+. It's an effective method of Liquidating Assets such as Jets, Planes, Helicopters, Freighters, etc.  Eric R. Sanders  Tel  386-789-9441  www.ValuedAssetSales.com  www.The-RandolphCapital.com  EQPMNTLEASING@aol.com
Asset Storage/Re-Marketing: Ohio & surrounding states. Providing no cost warehousing, condition reports, digital photos and remarketing of off-lease forklifts & industrial equipment. NAFTA wide dealer network. Email to GCochran@OhioLift.com	Asset Management Melville, New York Auctions, Appraisals, National Repossessions.  ALL asset classes. 20+ year team works for you. Spend less, Net More… Fast! Ed Castagna 516-229-1968 ecastagna@inplaceauction.com
Asset Management: South East US- AllState Asset Management  Recovery, remarketing, inspections. 25 years experience, dedicated to deliver, prompt, professional services.  Call Brian @ 704-671-2376 email	Asset Management: Global Specializing in Semiconductor and Electronic Test Equipment collateral. Lender services include Consignment Sales, Remarketing, Portfolio Purchases, Inspections, De-installation, Repairs and Warehousing.  www.testequipmentconnection.com email
Bulldog Asset Management provides recovery and remarketing services with a difference. Contingent repos, free storage and industry experts to remarket. Email:Jamie@bulldogasset.com  www.bulldogasset.com	Asset Management: Portsmouth, NH Unique approach improves results, keeps costs down. Repossession, Storage, Inspection, Legal, Appraisal, Transport, Remarketing. Free advice and resources.Call 855.EENGINE lendersolutions.equipmentengine.com

All "Outsourcing" Classified ads (advertisers are both requested and responsible to keep their free ads up to date:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Outsourcing/Outsourcing.htm

How to Post a free "Outsourcing" classified ad:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Classified/Outsourcing/Outsourcing-post.htm

Credit Analysts Positions in Irvine and San Diego 1 year experience preferred, salary/benefits Any related experienced may also qualify Credit Analyst description: click here Please call Dean Lyulkin 858-866-9253

www.cflbc.com Commercial Finance & Leasing Bank of Cardiff, Inc, a finance lender licensed pursuant to the California Finance Lenders Law, license #603G469

Shih Tzu/Mixed
Albuquerque, New Mexico Adopt-a-Dog

Rose
Baby

Albuquerque Animal Services - Westside
Location: 11800 Sunset Gardens Road SW
Albuquerque, NM 87121
(505) 768-1975
http://cabq.gov/pets

 

Adopt-a-Pet by Leasing Co. State/City
http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/Adopt_Pet.htm

Adopt a Pet
http://www.adoptapet.com/

 

News Briefs----

Back From Bankruptcy: CIT And John Thain's Stunning Turnaround
http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2013/08/09/back-from-bankruptcy-cit-and-john-thains-stunning-turnaround/

Bank Of Hawaii: A Well Insulated Regional Bank
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1616922-bank-of-hawaii-a-well-insulated-regional-bank

AOL's Armstrong fires worker during conference call
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/conference_gal

Nearly 70, a ‘Little Boy’ Seeks a Home for His Baseball Trove
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/sports/baseball/warehouse-of-baseball-memories-could-be-left-stranded.html?pagewanted=all

 

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--You May Have Missed It

The Surprising Origins of the 10 Biggest Chain Restaurants Slideshow
http://www.thedailymeal.com/surprising-origins-10-biggest-chain-restaurants-slideshow

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SparkPeople--Live Healthier and Longer

 

9 Simple Tricks to Eat Less
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1386

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Baseball Poem

Your 95 MPH Fastball Won't Get You In The
Draft Anymore

by Tim Peeler

Like a 1400 on your SAT won't get you into Harvard
And American Express will continually turn you down
Because your salary goes up slower than their expectations.

Who will get through the traffic jam?
Who will grow the nerves to win the new game?
Who will sop up the spoils, raise a toast in the ruins?

Let me write one tremendously long line like the horizontal
bar at the high jump pit---
See how I fail, even at this?
But my failure is merely a failure of margins,
And your 95 MPH fastball is nothing more than a metaphor
These days.

Tim Peeler in “Waiting for Godot's

First Pitch” More Poems from Baseball
published by McFarland and Company

 

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Sports Briefs----

A-Rod homers, now 12 within Mays ([but Gardner’s walk-off HR saved the Yanks from Mo’s 3d consecutive blown save…a first in his Hall of Fame Career. Ralph Mango, editor.]
http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/9558322/alex-rodriguez-new-york-yankees-goes-deep-pull-12-willie-mays

Unflappable Dufner Captures P.G.A. Title
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/12/sports/golf/live-updates-final-round-of-the-pga-championship.html?emc=edit_na_20130811

David Moore Breaks down Good and Bad from Cowboys' loss to Raiders
http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-cowboys/photos/20130810-david-moore-breaks-down-the-good-bad-from-cowboys-loss-to-raiders.ece

 

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California Nuts Briefs---

BART strikes blocked for now; no progress on talks
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-strikes-blocked-for-now-no-progress-on-talks-4724130.php

 

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“Gimme that Wine”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJnQoi8DSE8

Grape harvest looms across the Pacific Northwest
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/08/08/3130263/harvest-looms-across-the-pacific.html

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/08/08/3130263/harvest-looms-across-the-pacific.html#storylink=cpy

From Sicily, Reds Worth the Hunt
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/dining/reviews/from-sicily-reds-worth-the-hunt.html?ref=dining

French winemakers count cost of devastating hailstorms
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/bordeaux-wine-vineyards-hailstorms-damage

Hail hits southern Alsace vineyards
http://www.decanter.com/news/wine-news/584224/hail-hits-southern-alsace-vineyards

Free Mobile Wine Program
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Feb2010/2_26.htm#mobile

Wine Prices by vintage
http://www.winezap.com
http://www.wine-searcher.com/

US/International Wine Events
http://www.localwineevents.com/

Winery Atlas
http://www.carterhouse.com/atlas/\

Leasing News Wine & Spirits Page
http://two.leasingnews.org/Recommendations/wnensprts.htm

       1508 - Ponce de Leon arrived in Puerto Rico. Spain had appointed him to colonize Puerto Rico. He explored Puerto Rico and Spanish ships under his command began to capture Bahamanian Tainos to work as slaves on Hispaniola. His settlement at Caparra, 2 miles south of San Juan Bay, was plagued by Taino Indians and cannibalistic Carib Indians. 
    1553- Pope Julius III orders confiscation and burning of the Talmud. Religious prosecution of Jews in Europe becomes prevalent for the next two centuries, as many then migrant to the United States to escape growing religious prosecution. 
    1585-The first letters written in English in America were the four letters of Ralph Lane, the first commander of Raleigh's first colony at Roanoke Island, NC, Porte Ferdynando. 
http://www.britannia.com/bios/rlane.html 
Here is Lane's Report from his letters: 
http://www.nationalcenter.org/ColonyofRoanoke.html 
    1676-King Phillips War (1675-1676) ended when the Wampanoag leader was surprised and shot by an Indian in the service of Captain Benjamin Church near Mt. Hope, Rhode Island. King Phillip was the son of the chief of the Wampanog tribe. The conflict had grown to include the Wampanoag, Nipmuck, Narragansett, Mohegan, and Podunk tribes and ended with their virtual destruction, opening southern New England to unimpeded colonial expansion. 
    1778 - A Rhode Island hurricane prevented an impending British-French sea battle, and caused extensive damage over southeast New England. 
    1833- Chicago incorporates as a village of about 350 
http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/originame.html 
    1833--Birthday of Lillie Devereux Blake - U.S. writer and suffrage activist. Widowed, she turned to writing to support herself. Prolific, she used a dozen pseudonyms as she churned out newspaper and magazine articles and novels. She was a main contributor to Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Woman's Bible that may be found in WOAH's library - http://www.undelete.org/library/library0041.html See some quotes below in Quotes du Jour. She led successful campaigns to have women matrons or physicians on duty at public institutions and police stations where it was customary to have males supervise jailed women in ALL aspects of their lives, often alone. The women had no way to object to any kind of treatment by the male guards, including rape or beatings. She also was successful in having wives declared joint guardians of minor children in New York State, a provision that soon spread to other states. Up to the late 1890s (in spite of propaganda today by ultra- conservative forces) men had SOLE custody of his children and the mother had NO rights. 
    1835 -The City of Canaan, NH votes to remove the Noyes Academy (black school) from their city and a group attack it, breaking windows, and threatening to tear down the building. The building survives, Blacks leave, according to many diary accounts, and a year later, after it is repaired at city expense, it burns down, according to one report. 
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~townsend/HoC/HoC272.html 
    1834- Dental amalgam for filing teeth was introduced by Messrs. Carcour and Sons, who first started advertising it this day in the New York Commercial Advertiser, as "Royal Mineral Succadaneum for filling decayed teeth without the slightest pain, heat or pressure." they paid little attention to caries and filled all cavities without first removing decay. Their work was unsatisfactory and they were obliged to flee the country. 
    1851- Isaac Merritt Singer developed the sewing machine for use in homes and received a patent for a rocking treadle or double treadle. He used a treadle similar to that employed in old spinning wheels and attached it by means of a pitman to the handle on the driving gear of the machine. 1857 Edward Gibbs of Mill Point, VA invented the chain-stitch single-thread sewing machine. 1858, William and Ellen Demorest of New York devised paper sewing patterns, publishing them in magazine. They cut apart stylish dresses and recreated them in tissue-paper versions packaged in large envelopes, which they sold mainly by mail order. Their company was notable in its time for being run jointly by a married couple and for employing African-Americans and whites equally. The business was eventually eclipsed by e. Butterick and Company of New York City, bounded in 1867 by Ebenezer and Eleanor Butterick of Sterling MA, who had received a patent for paper sewing patterns. In 1866, Excelsior Needle of Wolcottbville, CT, organized with $20,000 of capital, sped the sale of sewing machines with a means of making uniform sewing needles at a very low cost rather than the crude needles previously made. Singer at this time started lay-away plans, trade-in plans, leasing of sewing machines for clothing manufacturers (seasonal and long term), and in 1876 introduced the first sewing machine lamp holder. IT "quite obviated the difficulty experienced by operators when sewing at night" because the lamp would not " jar off the table or upset" and it could " be moved without soiling the fingers (patented by Ludwig Martin Nicolaus Wolf of Avon, CT). 1889, the first electric sewing machine was manufactured by the Singer Manufacturing Company at its factory in Elizabethport, NJ. 
    1859- Birth of Katherine Lee Bates, American English teacher. She published over 20 books, but is best remembered today for writing the patriotic hymn, "America, the Beautiful" (a.k.a. "O Beautiful for Spacious Skies"). 
    1862- Gen John Hunt Morgan and his raiders capture Gallatin, TX. 
    1863 - Confederate raider William Quantrill led a massacre of 150 men and boys in Lawrence, Kansas. Quantrill's last ride. 
    1867 - President Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him as he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. 
    1867---Birthday of Edith Hamilton - U.S. classicist, author and authority on ancient Greece and mythology. She was headmistress of Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore (founded by Mary E. Garrett and M. Carey Thomas). She remained headmistress for 26 years until what has been termed a "disagreement" with Thomas in 1922. In her retirement, she was able to devote herself to her classical studies and writing and a second career that has made her a popular writer even today. At age 90- she was made an honorary citizen of Athens in recognition of her scholarly writings. She started The Greek Way (1930) and published a series of astoundingly easy to read yet scholarly books including the ever-popular Mythology (1942) that is still in print. Her other books are The Roman Way (1932), The Prophets of Israel (1936), Three Greek Plays, translations from Aeschylus and Euripides (1937), Mythology (1942), Witness to the Truth: Christ and His Interpreters (1949), The Great Age of Greek Literature (an expansion of The Greek Way, 1943), Spokesmen for God (an expansion of The Prophets of Israel, 1949), and The Echo of Greece (1957). After "a confrontation with Thomas" in 1922 at age 55, she left Bryn Mawr to live with openly with Doris Field Reid for the rest of her life, "staying home to keep house" and write while Reid continued as a noted investment banker. The couple bought a summer home on Mount Desert Island and later moved to New York City from Baltimore when Reid received the opportunity to go with a noted Wall Street firm. Later EH followed Reid to Washington when Reid was made head of the firm's offices there.
    1877-Thomas Edison completes his first model of a phonographic player. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/aug12.html 
    1880- Birthday of famed American baseball player Christopher (Christy) Mathewson, one of the first players named to Baseball's Hall of Fame. Born at Factoryville, PA, he was a college graduate, and considered one of baseball's first clean-cut stars. He pitched three complete games during the 1905 World Series without allowing opponents to score a run. In 17 years he won 373 games while losing 188 and striking out 2,499 players. 
    1881-Birthday of Cecil B. DeMille, film pioneer, born at Ashfield, MA. Cecil Blount De Mille was a film showman extraordinaire known for lavish screen spectacles. he produced more than 70 major films which were noted more for their large scale than for the subtle artistry. He produced one of the earliest four-reel film, " The Squaw Man," in 1913, which boasted the first use of indoor lighting on an actor and was the first film to publicize the names of its stars. His other innovations included the sneak preview and the idea of producing different versions of a popular film. His films include, " The Crusades," " The Sign of the Cross," "King of Kings," "Cleopatra," " The Plainsman," " the Buccaneer," " Reap the Wild Wind, " and " The Ten Commandments," which was made in 1923 and then in a new version in 1956. DeMille was awarded an Oscar for " The Greatest Show on Earthy" in 1953. He died January 21, 1959, at Hollywood, Ca. 
    1898-The first island territory annexed by the federal government was the Hawaiian Island. The treat was signed on June 16,1867, by John Sherman, secretary of state. A joint congressional resolution to provide for annexation was passed on July 7, 1898, were formally annexed this day, to become known after their largest Island as the "Hawaiian Islands." 
http://www.uwec.edu/Academic/curric/greidebe/Indigenous/Student.Web.Pages
/Hawaii/HISTORY%20II.htm 
    1898 - The brief and one-sided Spanish-American War comes to an end when Spain formally agrees to a peace protocol on U.S. terms: the cession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Manila in the Philippines to the United States pending a final peace treaty. 
    1915- "Of Human Bondage," by William Somerset Maugham, published 
    1923- Victor Cine Camera introduced the first portable movie camera. It weighed five pounds and cost $55. Today it was first advertised and Charlie Chaplin was one of the first customers. 
    1929-Birthday of Alvis Edgar " Buck" Owens, singer and songwriter, Sherman, TX. 
    1933- - The temperature at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, CA, hit 127 degrees to establish a U.S. record for the month of August. 
    1936- - The temperature at Seymour, TX, hit 120 degrees to establish a state record. 
    1947---Top Hits 
Peg o' My Heart - The Harmonicats 
I Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder - Eddy Howard 
Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba - Perry Como 
Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) - Tex Williams 
    1950-The New York Giants defeated the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League, 27-6, in an exhibition game played at Ottawa. The Giants thus became the firs NFL team to play outside the US. 
    1955- The US Government set the first minimum hourly wage of one dollar. It was set at $3.10 effective January 1, 1980, and at $4.25 effective April 1991. 
    1955- - During the second week of August hurricanes Connie and Diane produced as much as 19 inches of rain in the northeastern U.S. forcing rivers from Virginia to Massachusetts into a high flood. Westfield MA was deluged with 18.15 inches of rain in 24 hours, and at Woonsocket RI the Blackstone River swelled from seventy feet in width to a mile and a half. Connecticut and the Delaware Valley were hardest hit. Total damage in New England was 800 million dollars, and flooding claimed 187 lives. 
    1955---Top Hits 
Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets 
Ain't that a Shame - Fats Domino 
Learnin' the Blues - Frank Sinatra 
I Don't Care - Webb Pierce 
    1959 -- Little Rock, Arkansas responded to a Federal Court order with the token integration of two public schools (six blacks were admitted.) White mobs protested and there was major confrontation. Ironically, today there is a placard celebrating the history of this "event." 
    1960-The first communications satellite was Echo 1, a 26.5-inch magnesium sphere launched by a Thor-Delta rocket at 5:30am from Cape Canaveral, FL. The satellite went into orbit at 7:45am, after the three stages of the rocket had been fired successfully. A tape message was transmitted from Goldstone, CA, bounced off the satellite, and received by the Bell Telephone laboratory at Holmdel, NJ. This eventually revolutionized the communication industry from radio and television news, miniature portable telephones, Internet and geographic location at extremely low costs and very high efficiencies. 
    1963---Top Hits 
Fingertips - Pt 2 - Little Stevie Wonder 
Wipe Out - The Surfaris 
(You're the) Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley 
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash 
    1964- Race riot in Elizabeth, NJ. 
    1965-Race riot in West Side of Chicago, IL. 
    1968-WORLEY, KENNETH L. Medal of Honor Rank and organization: Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein), FMF. Place and date: Bo Ban, Quang Nam Province, Republic of Vietnam, 12 August 1968. Entered service at: Fresno, Calif. Born: 27 April 1948, Farmington, N. Mex. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a machine gunner with Company L, 3d Battalion, in action against enemy forces. After establishing a night ambush position in a house in the Bo Ban, Hamlet of Quang Nam Province, security was set up and the remainder of the patrol members retired until their respective watch. During the early morning hours the marines were abruptly awakened by the platoon leader's warning that "grenades" had landed in the house. Fully realizing the inevitable result of his actions, L/Cpl. Worley, in a valiant act of heroism, instantly threw himself upon the grenade nearest him and his comrades, absorbing with his body, the full and tremendous force of the explosion. Through his extraordinary initiative and inspiring valor in the face of almost certain death, he saved his comrades from serious injury and possible loss of life although 5 of his fellow marines incurred minor wounds as the other grenades exploded. L/Cpl. Worley's gallant actions upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country. 
    1969 - Basketball team the Boston Celtics was sold for $6,000,000; the highest dollar figure ever paid, to that time, for a pro basketball team. 
    1969--Chuck Berry, Jethro Tull, Chicago Transit Authority, The Youngbloods and The Loading Zone @ San Francisco Fillmore West. 
    1970: The Hollywood Bowl holds a memorial concert for recently deceased folk legend Woody Guthrie, featuring (among others) Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Pete Seeger, Odetta, and Tom Paxton. 
    1971-Birthday of tennis player Pete Sampras, Washington, DC. 
    1971---Top Hits 
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart - The Bee Gees 
Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver 
Beginnings/Colour My World - Chicago 
I'm Just Me - Charley Pride 
    1972-The last United States ground combat forces in Vietnam were withdrawn. 
    1973 - Golfer Jack Nicklaus won his 14th major golf title, breaking a record held for nearly 50 years by Bobby Jones. Nicklaus won the PGA Championship for the third time.
    1978-The Commodores have their first US number one single with "Three Times a Lady". Lionel Richie would later explain that he wrote the song after hearing his father give a touching speech at his 37th anniversary party. 
    1979---Top Hits 
Bad Girls - Donna Summer 
Good Times - Chic 
The Main Event/Fight - Barbra Streisand 
Suspicions - Eddie Rabbitt 
    1981 - IBM (International Business Machines) introduced the Model 5150 PC (personal computer). The IBM PC ran on the Intel 8088 microprocessor at 4.77 MHz with one or two 160K floppy disk drives. It had 16 kilobytes of memory, expandable to 256k, five 8-bit ISA slots, a 65-watt power supply, no built-in clock, no built-in serial or parallel ports, and no built-in video capability -- it was available with an optional color monitor. MS-DOS 1.0/1.1 was issued with the PC (IBM later released its own operating system: PC-DOS). Prices started at $1,565. The IBM PC was a smashing success and IBM quickly became the #1 microcomputer company, with Apple dropping to #2, primarily because it was one-third the cost and available at Sears-Roebuck and many other retail stores, plus direct from IBM with a lease-finance plan both for consumers and business, including many start-ups ( it followed their typewriter leasing-finance plan with maintenance available ). 
    1982- The Minnesota Vikings, who for years used to the frozen tundra of Minneapolis's Metropolitan Stadium as a significant home-field advantage, made their debut in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. They beat the Seattle Seahawks in a preseason game. 
    1987---Top Hits 
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2 
I Want Your Sex - George Michael 
Heart and Soul - T'Pau 
One Promise Too Late - Reba McEntire 
    1988- The Red Sox beat the Tigers 9-4 for their 23rd consecutive win at Fenway Park establishing a new major league record [the streak will end after one more home victory]. The 1931 Philadelphia Athletics had previously set the league mark with 22 straight home victories. 
    1988- - Fifteen cities in the northeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Youngstown OH reported twenty-six days of 90 degree weather for the year, a total equal to that for the entire decade of the 1970s. 
    1992 - The United States, Mexico and Canada agreed to form a free-trade zone that would rank as the world's largest single trading bloc. 
     1993-Presisdent Bill Clinton signed a bill providing $6.2 billion in federal relief to victims of floods in July and August for nine states from North Dakota to Missouri. Due to the record rains in the spring of up to 200 percent above average, the Midwest suffered 50 deaths, 70,000 left homeless and an estimated $12 billion in damage as of August 9, 1998. 
    1994- "Woodstock '94" was held in Saugerties, New York. About 350,000 attended the show, which included mud fights and performances by Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, Aerosmith and the Red Hot Chili Peppers 
    1994 - In baseball's eighth work stoppage since 1972, players went on strike rather than allow team owners to limit their salaries. The work stoppage will lead to the cancellation of the World Series and a delayed opening of next season. 
    1996-National Hockey League general managers agreed upon a rule change taking effect at the start of the 1996-1997 season. If fans litter the ice during the game, the referee is empowered to give a warning and then, if the offense is repeated, to penalize the home team for delay of game. The rule was a response to fans of the Detroit Red Wings, who tradition called for throwing octopi on the ice, and more particularly to fans of the Florida Panthers, who littered the ice with plastic rates after Panther goals during the 1995-96 season. 
    1997- MTV debuts the Fleetwood Mac reunion concert. The special was taken from two performances at a Warner Brothers soundstage a few months earlier.