THE ETHICS OF ENGINEERING PRACTICE.


At the Pittsburg meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers,
held from the 16th to the 19th of February, Mr. James C. Bayles, the
President, delivered the following address:

GENTLEMEN OF THE INSTITUTE: Having availed myself somewhat liberally
during the past two years of the latitude which is accorded the president
in the selection of the topics presented in addresses from the chair, I
do not need to plead safe precedent as my warrant for devoting the
address which marks the conclusion of my service in the dignified and
honorable office to which, through your unmerited favor, I have been
twice chosen, to the consideration of some of the questions in casuistry
the answers to which will be found to furnish a basis for a code of
professional ethics. It is not asking too much of the engineer that his
professional morality shall conform to higher standards than those which
govern men who buy and sell with no other object than the getting of
gain. The professional man stands in a more confidential relation to his
client than is supposed to exist between buyer and seller in trade. He is
necessarily more trusted, and has larger opportunities of betraying the
confidence reposed in him than is offered the merchant or the business
agent. For the reason that he cannot be held to the same strict
accountability which law and usage establish in mercantile business, he
is under a moral obligation to fix his own rules of conduct by high
standards and conform to them under all circumstances. Whatever the
measure of his professional success--whether wealth and reputation crown