lves a wrong to his client. With
equal confidence may it be asserted that the engineer who secretly
participates in the profits of the contractor, whatever the arrangement
by which such participation is brought about, sacrifices his professional
standing.

In making reports for contingent fees or fees of contingent value, the
young engineer needs to exercise great discretion. This may be done
without impropriety if done openly; but it is safe to assume that few
opportunities will come to the young man with a reputation still to make
in which he can do clean and creditable work on any such basis. The
engineer called upon to make a report for a fee in stock which depends
for its value upon the effect of his report in creating confidence in the
public mind, takes a fearful risk. However honest he may be, he places
himself in a position in which the danger is obvious and the advantage
uncertain. If, having a contingent interest in the result of his work, he
is afraid to say so in his report, he may safely consider his position
unprofessional and unsafe. Contingent fees are a delusion and a snare,
and in making it a rule to refuse them the young engineer will be likely
to gain more than he loses.

Reports intended to influence the public upon subjects concerning which
the engineer knows himself unqualified to speak with authority are to be
classed with other forms of charlatanry. No man can claim infallibility
of judgment, nor is this expected of the engineer, whatever his position;
but those who pay for professional services have a right to demand that
the man who assumes to speak as an expert shall have the special
knowledge which will command for his opinion the respect of those who are
well informed. I consider it unprofessional for the engineer to enter
upon the discharge of any duties for which he knows he is not qualified,
if for the satisfactory discharge of those duties he must assume a
knowledge he does not possess. There has been an immense amount of
unprofessional work done in the field of reporting, and many reputations
have been blasted by a failure to draw nice distinctions in questions of
professional honor. The young engineer cannot be too careful in this
matter, and he will be fortunate if, with all the prudence he can
exercise, he is able to avoid disaster. Of a professional reputation
dependent upon the accuracy as well as the honesty of reports ordered and
used for speculative purposes, one may say as a