A. I. E. E. membership

There are many things that can be done by engineers in the aggregate that would be impossible to any engineer as an individual. This is one of the fundamental reasons underlying the existence of the technical society. The only way by which any individual engineer can take part in those activities that pertain to the engineer in the aggreate is through engineering societies. It is true that many of the activities that are carried on by engineering societies are not, in general, such as will appeal to the selfish motives of the individual engineer; they are rather altruistic in character. It is not to be thought of, however, that the only argument that will have weight with the prospective member of our Institute, is one that is purely selfish. There are, of course, selfish reasons why electrical engineers should join our Institute, but it is not the selfish reason that I wish to emphasize in this short paragraph. It is rather my intention to emphasize the altruism that actuates our engineering societies — among them, our own Institute — in the performance of many of their functions.