Manawatu Daily Times Professional Ethics in Business

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6664, 18 July 1928, Page 6

Manawatu Daily Times Professional Ethics in Business

In describing'business as ,( the oldest of the arts and' the newest of the professions,” Judge Edwin B. Parker, chairman of the, American, National Chamber of Commerce, made it clear that business men,-like professional men, : must now come to realise the necessity of an ethical code for their guidance. The old-time harrow intelleetualism which limited the title of profession to the callings of divinity, law and medicine has long since been abandoned in many ways. Indeed, the sentiment which once , ascribed. to the; practitioners of these so-called learned callings, a degree of intellectual activity superior to that of men engaged", in business affairs long since went down before the logic of irresistible facts.

The applicatmh of methods of natural science to industry has in itself drawn into the ranks of business a great body of highly educated technical students, y But,aside from this, aside from any demand which certain branches of industrialism or commerce make upon technically trained individuals, business per se has' become an occupation, which in its higher manifestations demands the utmost intellectual, activity. It was long ago seen to be absurd to attribute to men, the ramifications of whose business extended into every quarter of the globe, and whose knowledge had to comprehend wide acquaintance with the laws, social customs, and the political methods of distant lands, a degree of schooled intelligence less lofty than that of the country preacher, the neighbourhood doctor, or the police court lawyer. .. Yet each of these last was once classed as' a professional man, while the title would be denied to the head of, let us say, the General Electric Company.

This absurdity has disappeared, but with the recognition of the professional status of men of large affairs must go an equal recognition of the ethical responsibilities imposed upon them. Concerning this Judge Parker said:- ' .

■Just as nations will decline to recognise, as a member of the family of -nations, a government committed to destroying the foundations of cur civilisation; just as the legal profession has taken measures for disciplining and disbarring the "shyster”; just as tho medical profession purges itself of tho-unethical practitioner; so business will decline to recognise as a member of the profession of business, and trade associations will decline to receive into their ranks, or wiU expel, an individual or ah organisation that willfully violates the fundamental principles upon which sound business rests, or that persists in ignoring the decencies of business intercourse, and bespatters all business with tho slime of corruption oh with the muck of unclean practices.-

. Just exactly as thedignity and standing of members of the bar and of the profession of medicine have been protected and enhanced by disciplinary activities of bar and medical associations, so will the standards of business be elevated if such organisations as local and national chambers of commerce take coighisance of conduct of the sort thus condemned. The effort of John D. Rockefeller Jr. to eliminate from high place in the Standard Oil organisation a man involved in the Teapot Dome scandal is a case in point. And it is interesting to see the head of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, perhaps the most powerful organisation of its sort in the world, urging upon his associates a course of professional conduct for the purpose of uplifting the standards of their calling. x