The following events occurred in August 1912:
August 1, 1912 (Thursday) The Yuaikai, later called the Nihon Rōdō Sodomei or Japan Federation of Labor, was founded by Bunji Suzuki. At its peak, it would have 100,000 workers in its ranks. The Jungfrau Railway was inaugurated with the opening of underground Jungfraujoch railway station in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. A rail line of in length opened between Malenge and Franklin, Cape, South Africa. A train accident at Rio de Janeiro killed 10 people and injured 50.
Alfred A. Cunningham of the United States Marine Corps made his first solo flight, after 2 hours and 40 minutes of instruction, of an airplane, becoming the first U.S. Marine pilot. The Progressive Party announced that it would not allow African-Americans from Southern states to be delegates at its organizing convention in Chicago, with the approval of former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt emphasized that from Northern states, "there would be a number of negro delegates; more, in fact, than ever before figured in a National convention". Golfer John McDermott successfully defended his championship title at the 18th U.S. Open, beating runnerup Tom McNamara by two strokes. Born: David Brand, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Western Australia, in Dongara, Western Australia, Australia (d. 1979) Frank K. Edmondson, American astronomer, established the Indiana Asteroid Program, in Milwaukee (d. 2008)
August 2, 1912 (Friday) Chinese soldiers routed Tibetans at Lhasa. The throwing of a bomb in the Ottoman Empire city of Kotschana (now Kočani, North Macedonia) led to a riot by the residents there, with 140 people killed by Turkish soldiers who suppressed it. Eleven people died when a bomb went off in the town square, followed a few minutes later by another fatal attack. Competition for new aircraft models that met the for the requirements of the newly formed Royal Flying Corps began on the Salisbury Plain near Larkhill, England. Samuel Franklin Cody won the competition, which attracted 32 entrants, with his Cody V biplane. The United States Senate voted 51–4 to extend the Monroe Doctrine to protect the Americas from foreign corporations. The gunboat USS Tacoma was ordered to proceed from Guantánamo to Bluefields, Nicaragua.
August 3, 1912 (Saturday) An attack by soldiers of Montenegro against a Turkish border post killed 30 Turks and 12 Montenegrins. "Baby Seals Blues" was published in the form of sheet music; according to historian Rudi Blesh, the song by Arthur "Baby" Seales was the first blues song to use the word "blues" in its title, with "Dallas Blues" appearing the next month on September 28, while other sources describe "Dallas Blues" as having been introduced in March 1912.
August 4, 1912 (Sunday) Turkey's Senate voted to give the sultan power to dissolve parliament, after which it was dissolved with a vote of no confidence. Mount Etna erupted in Sicily. Nine members of an English boy scout troop, between the ages of 11 and 14, drowned along with their scoutmaster, when their boat capsized in the sea near the Isle of Sheppey, off the coast of the county of Kent. Britain mourned the deaths of the scouts as a national tragedy, and then First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill had the destroyer HMS Fervent bring their flag-draped coffins to London for the funeral. One hundred U.S. Marines and Navy men on the USS Annapolis landed at Corinto, Nicaragua, to protect American interests, while the USS Tacoma arrived at Bluefields on Tuesday. The forces assisted in the defeat, on September 24, of the rebel forces led by General Luis Mena. Born: Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, Soviet mathematician, known for his theorems including the Alexandrov's uniqueness theorem, in Volyn, Ryazan Oblast, Russia (d. 1999) Virgilio Piñera, Cuban writer, known for his short story collection Cold Tales and novels such as René's Flesh and Pressures and Diamonds, in Cárdenas, Cuba (d. 1979) Jandhyala Papayya Sastry, Indian poet, known for works including Pushpa Vilapam and Kunthi Kumari, in Kopparu, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India (d. 1992) Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat, credited for rescuing tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during The Holocaust, before being taken captive by the Soviets during the Siege of Budapest, in Lidingö Municipality, Sweden (d. 1947, death reported)
August 5, 1912 (Monday) In Chicago, the Progressive Party, nicknamed the "Bull Moose" Party to rival the Republican elephant and Democrat donkey, called itself to order as its founding convention opened at noon. Born: Abbé Pierre, French clergy, founder of Emmaus, recipient of the Legion of Honour, in Lyon (d. 2007)