Discussion on “engineering honor,” at Milwaukee, Wis., May 30, 1906

C. P. Steinmetz: The day before yesterday we listened to a very interesting dissertation by our worthy President on engineering ethics. I have in the last few days thought over this matter considerably. There is a code of ethics in all other professions. The high standing of the medical profession and of the profession of law is, in my mind, undoubtedly due to their strict code of ethics. Other branches of engineering also have some more or less universally recognized code of ethics. Our profession is the youngest one. There are still amongst us some of the early pioneers, who have seen the beginning of electrical engineering, and they are not so very old yet, either; even in our worthy Secretary we have one — and he is not so old, because as he tells me he is still riding a bicycle — men whose activity began during the times when electrical engineering consisted of telegraphy and nothing else.