# Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science/Volume 101

THE ETHICS OF THE PROFESSIONS AND OF BUSINESS
The Annals
With a Supplement: Modern China and Her Present Day Problems
Editor: CLYDE L. KING
Assistant Editor: J. H. WILLITS
Editorial Council: C. H. CRENNAN, DAVID FRIDAY, A. A. GIESECKE, A. R. HATTON, AMOS S. HERSHEY, E. M. HOPKINS, S. S. HUEBNER, CARL KELSEY, J. P. LICHTENBERGER, ROSWELL C. McCREA, E. M. PATTERSON, L. S. ROWE, HENRY SUZZALO, T. W. VAN METRE, F. D. WATSON
Editor in Charge of this Volume CLYDE L. KING
The American Academy of Political and Social Science 39th Street and Woodland Avenue Philadelphia 1922
Copyright, 1922, by
The American Academy of Political and Social Science
All rights reserved
EUROPEAN AGENTS
    ENGLAND: P. S. King & Son, Ltd., 2 Great Smith Street, Westminster, London, S. W.
    FRANCE: L. Larose, Rue Soufflot, 22, Paris.
    GERMANY: Mayer & Muller, 2 Prinz Louis Ferdinandstrasse, Berlin, N. W.
    ITALY: Giornale Degli Economisti, via Monte Savello, Palazzo Orsini, Rome.
    SPAIN: E. Dossat, 9 Plaza de Santa Ana, Madrid. ​
CONTENTS
THE ETHICS OF THE PROFESSIONS AND OF BUSINESS
PAGE
    Clyde L. King
    PART I—THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ETHICAL CODES FOR THE PROFESSIONS
    Robert D. Kohn, New York City, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects
    R. M. Mac Iver, Professor of Political Economy, University of Toronto
    Charles Harris Whitaker, Editor, the Journal of the American Institute of Architects
PART II— THE ETHICAL CODES OF LAWYERS
THE ETHICS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION 16
Henry W. Jessup, J. D., Counsellor-at-Law, New York City, Chairman, Committee of Professional Ethics of the New York State Bar Association; formerly, Chairman of Committee on Grievances and Ethics, American Bar Association
THE NEED FOR STANDARDS OF ETHICS FOR JUDGES 29
Edward A. Harriman, Counsellor-at-Law, Washington, D. C; formerly. Chairman, Committee on Grievances and Ethics, American Bar Association
GROUP ORGANIZATIONS AMONG LAWYERS 33
Herbert Harley, Secretary, American Judicature Society, Chicago, Illinois
UNLAWFUL PRACTICE OF THE LAW MUST BE PREVENTED 44
Julius Henry Cohen, Counsellor-at-Law, New York City, Chairman, Committee on
Unlawful Practice of the Law and Member, Committee on Professional Ethics, New York County Lawyers' Association
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON LEGAL ETHICS 48
PART III— THE ETHICS OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
THE PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, TRAINING AND ETHICAL CODES OF
PHYSICIANS, DENTISTS, NURSES AND PHARMACISTS 51
A. D. Whiting, M. D., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
PART IV— THE ETHICAL CODES OF THE ENGINEERS
ETHICS AND THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION 68
Morris Llewellyn Cooke, Consulting Engineer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Member American Association of Engineers, Member, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
THE ETHICS OF THE MECHANICAL ENGINEER 72
Calvin W. Rice, Secretary, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
ETHICS OF THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION 76
Frederick Haynes Newell, United States Reclamation Service, Washington, D. C.
ETHICS OF THE ELECTRICAL ENGINEER 86
Carl Hering, D. Sc., Consulting Engineer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
PROCEDURE IN DEVELOPING ETHICAL STANDARDS ADOPTED BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS 89
H. W. Clausen, Treasurer of the American Association of Engineers; Chairman, Practice Committee, American Association of Engineers
SHALL CORPORATIONS BE AUTHORIZED TO PRACTISE ENGINEERING?... 94
William J. Wilgus, Consulting Engineer, New York City
A PROPOSED CODE OF ETHICS FOR ALL ENGINEERS 97
A. G. Christie, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and Chairman of the Joint Committee on Ethics of the American Engineering Societies
PART V—THE ETHICS OF THE ARCHITECTS
PUBLIC INTEREST AND THE ARCHITECT 105
M. B. Medary, Jr., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Fellow, American Institute of Architects
THE ETHICAL STANDARDS OF THE ARCHITECTS AND THE PROCEDURE FOR THEIR ENFORCEMENT 108
H. W. Sellers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Fellow, American Institute of Architects
THE ARCHITECTURAL STUDENT AND HIS RELATION TO PROFESSIONAL
PRACTICE 114
Emil Lorch, Professor of Architecture, University of Michigan, Member of the American Institute of Architects and President of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
PART VI— ETHICAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS, LIBRARIANS, MINISTERS AND SOCIAL WORKERS
CODES OF ETHICS FOR THE TEACHING PROFJESSION 121
George Gailey Chambers, University of Pennsylvania, Chairman of the Ethics Commis-
sion of the Pennsylvania State Education Association
PRINCIPLES OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND TENURE OF THE AMERICAN
ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS 127
F. S. Deibler, Professor of Economics, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
THE ETHICS OF LIBRARIANSHIP; A PROPOSAL FOR A REVISED CODE ... 138
Charles Knowles Bolton, Secretary and Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum
THE ETHICS OF THE MINISTRY 147
S. Z. Batten, D. D., Secretary, Department of Social Education, American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
ETHICS IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE: PROPOSALS FOR A PUBLIC SERVICE
CODE 152
William C. Beyer, Assistant Director of the Biu-eau of Municipal Research of Philadelphia
THE PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION OF SOCIAL WORK 158
Mary Van Heeck, Director of Industrial Studies of the Russell Sage Foundation and
Graham Romeyn Taylor, Executive Secretary, American Association of Social Workers
PART VII—ETHICAL STANDARDS FOR JOURNALISTS
E. J. Mehren, Editor, Engineering News Record; formerly, Chairman, New York Conference of Business Paper Editors
Eric W. Allen, Dean of the School of Journalism, University of Oregon
Alfred G. Hill, Lawrence, Kansas, sometime reporter on certain Kansas daily papers and on the Public Ledger of Philadelphia
H. H. Norris, Managing Editor, Electric Railway Journal
PART VIII—THE ETHICAL CODE OF ACCOUNTANTS
ETHICS OF ACCOUNTANCY 196
Edward P. Moxey, Jr., Ph. D., C. P. A., Professor of Accounting, University of Pennsylvania
PART IX—ETHICS IN BUSINESS
THE PROFESSION OF COMMERCE IN THE MAKING 203
F. M. Feiker, Vice-President, McGraw Hill Company, Inc., and someliine, A-ssistant to the Secretary of Commerce
THE CANONS OF COMMERCIAL ETHICS ADOPTED BY THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CREDIT MEN 208
J. H. Tregoe, Secretary-Treasm-er, National Association of Credit Men
HISTORY AND PRESENT STATUS OF THE "TRUTH-IN-ADVERTISING" MOVEMENT AS CARRIED ON BY THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE OF THE ASSOCIATED ADVERTISING CLUBS OF THE WORLD 211
Herbert W. Hess, Advertising and Salesmanship Department, Wharton School of Finance
and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania
BETTER ETHICAL STANDARDS FOR BUSINESS: THE PURPOSE OF THE
COMMERCIAL STANDARDS COUNCIL , 221
Williams Haynes, President, Drug and Chemical Markets, New York City, Chairman,
Educational Committee, Commercial Standards Council
A SIMPLE CODE OF BUSINESS ETHICS 223
Edward A. Filene, President, William Filene's Sons Company, Boston, Massachusetts
CAMPAIGN OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ROTARY CLUBS FOR THE WRITING OF CODES OF STANDARDS OF CORRECT PRACTICE FOR EACH BUSINESS AND PROFESSION 228
Guy Gundaker, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chairman, Committee on Business Methods,
International Association of Rotary Clubs
SUPPLEMENT: MODERN CHINA AND HER PRESENT DAY PROBLEMS
CHINA, OUR CHIEF FAR EAST PROBLEM 237
W. W. Willoughby, Ph. D., Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University
CHINA AND HER RECONSTRUCTION 240
Admiral Tsai, Member of the Chinese Delegation to the Conference on the Limitation of Armament, Washington, D. C.
THE FUTURE OF CHINESE DEMOCRACY 242
Dr. Sao-Ke Alfred Sze, Chinese Minister to the United States
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT FOR CHINA 249
Dr. John C. Ferguson, Adviser of the President of China
APPENDIX
THE CANONS OF ETHICS FOR LAWYERS ADOPTED BY THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, AUGUST, 1908 254
PRINCIPLES OF MEDICAL ETHICS OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. ADOPTED IN JUNE, 1912 260
CODE OF ETHICS OF THE GRADUATE NURSES' ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, ADOPTED IN 1904 265
CODE OF ETHICS OF THE NATIONAL DENTAL ASSOCIATION 266
CODE OF ETHICS OF THE AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION, ADOPTED IN 1852, AND PRINCIPLES OF PHARMACEUTICAL ETHICS PROPOSED BY CHARLES LA WALL FOR ADOPTION IN 1922 267
CODE OF ETHICS ADOPTED BY THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS IN JUNE, 1914 271
CODE OF ETHICS ADOPTED SEPTEMBER 2, 1914, BY THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS 273
THE CODE OF ETHICS OF THE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE OF CANADA, INCORPORATED 1887 AS THE CANADIAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS 274
CODE OF PRINCIPLES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, ADOPTED IN 1912 274
CODE OF ETHICS ADOPTED BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS 277
A CIRCULAR OF ADVICE RELATIVE TO THE PRINCIPLES OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE OF ARCHITECTS . 277
THE CANONS OF ETHICS ADOPTED BY THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS 280
A CODE OF ETHICS FOR THE TEACHING PROFESSION, ADOPTED BY THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, DECEMBER, 1920 281
THE OREGON CODE OF ETHICS FOR JOURNALISM AS ADOPTED BY THE OREGON NEWSPAPER CONFERENCE IN 1922 283
THE KANSAS CODE OF ETHICS FOR NEWSPAPERS, ADOPTED MARCH 8, 1910 286
DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND CODE OF PRACTICE, ADOPTED BY THE MISSOURI PRESS ASSOCIATION AT COLUMBIA, MISSOURI, MAY 27, 1921 294
CREED OF INDUSTRIAL PUBLISHING, ADOPTED BY THE FEDERATION OF TRADE PRESS ASSOCIATIONS IN 1913 295
STANDARDS OF PRACTICE, ADOPTED BY THE AMERICAN BUSINESS PUBLISHERS, INC., 1916 296
STANDARDS OF EDITORIAL PRACTICE ADOPTED BY THE EDITORIAL CONFERENCE OF THE NEW YORK BUSINESS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION, JUNE 17, 1921 296
STANDARDS OF PRACTICE OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF TRADE AND TECHNICAL JOURNALS 297
THE CODE OF ETHICS FOR ACCOUNTANTS ADOPTED BY THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ACCOUNTANTS IN 1916 297
THE CANONS OF COMMERCIAL ETHICS ADOPTED BY THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CREDIT MEN 298
BOOK DEPARTMENT 301
INDEX 310
FOREWORD
CODES of ethics are important agencies for social control. The complexities and the specializations of modern industrial life leave many individuals unable to judge whether or not a member of any profession has performed his services with due regard to the interests of all, as well as with due regard to the interests of his client. In all but the crassest and most obvious defaults in service standards the work of the physician must be judged by physicians and that of the lawyer, by lawyers. And so with each of the professions. The higher the skill, the greater the need for organized group effort toward maintaining a fine sense of obligations, not primarily to others in the same profession, but chiefly to the general well-being of all.
Hence it is that the ideal of all the professions is public service and not monetary gain. The very opportunities for anti-social conduct call forth organized effort to taboo unprofessional conduct. The constructive aim of each of the professions must therefore be the public good. 'The member of each of the professions has a,s his means of livelihood the heritage of the ages in his science. His earning power and his opportunity for immortality of influence depend upon the careful work of countless predecessors. The training necessary to a mastery of a profession gives the opportunity, but not the reason, for enforcing high standards of conduct throughout the profession.
Until very recently business was looked upon solely as a means to a selfish end. The ethics of business were those of the barter-market. The buyer could beware. The sole test of the seller was what he could get away with. But modern transportation systems have changed all this. Oranges grown in California must now be marketed in Philadelphia and automobiles are now made in Detroit to be sold in the Orient. The manufacturer sells to distant unknown customers through advertising. Even contracts to buy and to sell, in these days of the telephone, are largely by word of mouth. Selling prices must now be announced before goods are produced. Business hangs more and more upon good faith. That old adage, "A man's word is as good as his bond," acquires new meaning as a business asset.
The necessity of good faith in business was brought forcibly to the attention of the business world by the unprecedented cancellation of contracts in the recent period of rapidly rising and falling prices. Business men learned then how little money it takes to tempt a man to break his word. But modern business cannot go on where there is lack of confidence. The sudden stagnation of business in 1920 was due more than men are wont to believe to the breakdown of moral stamina. Business is today far flung in its relations and complex in its ramifications. The structure falls when good faith fails.
In the past few months, many business men have come to have a solemn sense of personal obligation to restore and maintain faith in the business world. For ethics is the basis for creative industry. The National Association of Credit Men has adopted a formal code of ethics. (See page 208.) The Associated Advertising Clubs of the World has started a "Truth in Advertising" Movement and has formed a Vigilance Committee to enforce the truthful presentation of business facts in advertising. (See page 214.) The "Commercial Standards Council" was federated out of many large busi​ness associations to suppress bribery and to secure better ethical standards in business. (See page 221.) The Rotarians, under the poignant leadership of Mr. Guy Gundaker, have set for themselves the gigantic yet inspiring task of creating a code of ethics in every craft and business group throughout the country. (See page 229.) And even the editors of newspapers have assumed responsibility for a public profession as to their standards of conduct. (See pp. 170 to 179.)
As business groups and crafts struggle to put into words the ideals that shall guide their members when meeting the business temptations peculiar to each craft or industry, they, too, must turn away from mere negations to the ideal. And this ideal, as with the professions, must be the public good. These business groups, however, will not find at hand the same means for enforcing high standards of conduct that the professions have. There will usually be no selective training for the work performed, though the demand for such training is increasing. (See page 205.) But, on the other hand, business groups will have the powerful controlling agency of the organized market.
The business world is now so complex that reliance must be its first watchword. And this can never be until the ideal of service controls the crafty impulse for profits. Confidence can never be established merely by preventing the illegal. Laws must by their very nature be the expression of accepted standards of conduct. Unless those standards are generally accepted, laws can be of no avail. For laws enforce the obedience of minorities only. The professions of law and of medicine will never entice the public confidence if the members of those professions organize solely to punish the lawbreaker. The physician, to be worthy of his profession, must do more than refuse to do the illegal act. He must do his share to prevent disease, even though by so doing he shall decrease the need for physicians. The unethical and the illegal are not synonymous. The ethical points to the goal. The illegal leads only to the jail. The unethical is the path in the mud. The ethical is the paved road to public service. Ethics like all paved roads are the result of conscious, persistent, human effort.
One danger to the general good lurks in group codes, and that is that the code may degenerate into the creed of a "make-work" union. We have heard much of late about wage earners making work for each other and not pushing their own jobs to a finish. We have been prone to forget that the same disease has long been chronic among some members of the legal profession. We have scolded the wage earners for standing together when many physicians have long practised all the arts of mutual protection. Unless the ancient self-seeking by individuals is to become, under the modern necessity for organization, mere self-seeking by groups, codes of ethics must keep clearly in mind at all times the good of all. If chambers of commerce may dominate the legislature of Pennsylvania, why may not the farmers dominate the national Congress? If lawyers are to make work for each other, how are we to say that laborers shall not soldier on their jobs? Self-determination by groups there should be; but self-determination in the light of the good of all.
One aspect of group consciousness of late is the belief of each of the professions that it alone should inherit the earth. Engineers have recently claimed that engineering is the one all-inclusive industrial profession. The farmers have long known that the farm is the beginning and the end of all industry. Ministers have solemnly assured their ​hearers that the ministry is the highest of all callings while the contempt of lawyers for the skill or knowledge of others has been chronic. And who has not been told that labor produces all goods and who else ever can be "practical" but the business man? In so far as this group-smugness is born of a conviction of the dignity and social value of one's calling, such a feeling will have social value. But in so far as it is indicative of group-selfishness, we must find an antidote for it.
And that antidote has been suggested in the Interprofessional Conference. Such a Conference was held in Detroit in 1919. The purpose of that Conference (see page 13) was "to liberate the professions from the domination of selfish interest, both within and without the professions, to devise ways and means of better utilizing the professional heritage and skill for the benefit of society and to create relations between the professions looking toward that end." The Congress of the Building Industry, formed in this country, is fraught with such possibilities. Mr. Hoover's Unemployment Conference created in the minds of its most selfish members an impulse to do one's duty toward others. Such congresses where one may learn of the needs and points of view of others will tend to transmute group-selfishness into group-ideals of public service. The public weal is a joint product of the loyal services of the skill, knowledge and creative ability of all. Useless one group or profession without the other.
Codes of ethics are the means by which groups keep their members socially victorious over self-aggrandizement. To survive, such codes must achieve a unity not of negation but of spirit—a spirit that consecrates life to the long-time interests of all through one's efforts while making a living.
Clyde L. King, Editor.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS WITH A DEDICATION
THIS volume of the "Annals" owes its value to the service ideal of each member of the committee whose names are given on the opposite page. The content and point of view of this volume were both new. Here and there individuals within the professions had given thought to the place and value of a code, each for his own profession, but few even of these had thought of the service value of the standards of conduct reflected in those codes to other pro- fessions or to business generally. The volume required consultation and repeated searches for contributors and topics and codes on the part of all the members of this committee. Many not only helped with suggestions and advice but also undertook the preparation of articles themselves. To all of these the officers of the Academy render grateful acknowledgments.
The services of this committee are not to end with the publication of this volume. The members of the committee have dedicated themselves to the cause of the betterment of ethical standards among the professions and in business. To this end they will keep themselves in touch with and aid when possible the attempts of all organizations everywhere to attain and maintain high standards of social conduct. With the active support of the many hundreds of loyal and active Academy members everywhere, such services are sure to bring ample returns. For the stability and worthwhileness of our social and industrial life depend upon the standards of conduct of men and women when
engaged in making a living. ​
THE INTERPROFESSIONAL COMMITTEE
OF THE
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
ON THE
ETHICS OF THE PROFESSIONS AND OF BUSINESS
LAWYERS
Henry W. Jessup, Counsellor at Law, New York City. Chairman, Committee of Professional Ethics of the New York State Bar Association; formerly. Chairman of Committee on Grievances and Ethics, American Bar Association. W. E. MiKELL, Dean, Law School, University of Pennsylvania. Honorable Roland S. Morris, Counsellor at Law, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formerly American Ambassador to Japan.
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
A. D. Whiting, M. D., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
ENGINEERS
Morris L. Cooke, Consulting Engineer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Calvin W. Rice, Secretary, American Association of Mechanical Engineers.
architects
Robert D. Kohn, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, New York City. C. C. Zantzingbr, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
teachers
George Gailey Chambers, University of Pennsylvania. Formerly Chairman of the Ethics Commission of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. W, D. Lewis, Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction of Pennsylvania. Joseph H. Hill, Kansas City, Missouri. Formerly President of the Kansas State Normal School.
librarians
C. K. Bolton, Secretary and Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Massachusetts. J. I. Wyeb, Director, New York State Library School, Albany, New York.
journalists
E. J. Mehren, Editor, Engineering News Record. E. W. Allen, Dean, School of Journalism, University of Oregon.
ministry
Samuel Z, Batten, D. D., Secretary, Department of Social Education, American Bap- tist Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
social work
Mary Van Kleeck, Director of Industrial Studies of the Russell Sage Foimdation. Graham R. Taylor, Executive Secretary, American Association of Social Workers.
business
F. M. Feiker, Vice President, McGraw-Hill Company, Inc., New York City, Charles J. Rhoads, Brown Brothers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Guy Gundaker, Kuglers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chairman, Committee on Business Methods, International Association of Rotary Clubs.