Presentation Of The John Fritz Medal To J. Waldo Smith

On April 17, the John Fritz Medal, the award of which the presiding officer, Col. John J. Carty, characterized as "the highest honor which can be conferred on an engineer in America," was presented to. J. Waldo Smith "for his most distinguished services in civil engineering, and particularly in connection with the work on the great aqueduct, which has just been completed." Col. Carty spoke very briefly of the origin of the Medal and the method of awarding it, mentioning the names of the twelve men to whom it has been awarded in former years, and then introduced Mr. Nelson P. Lewis, Vice-president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and for many years Chief Engineer of the Board of Estimate of the City of New York, who is an old colleague and fellow-engineer of Mr. Smith. Mr. Lewis said, in part: Mr. Smith is so well known that an extended review of his professional activities will be unnecessary, but a brief outline of the development of a conspicuously successful hydraulic engineer may not be out of place. It would be difficult to find a better instance of the success which is quite sure to result from persistent devotion to all phases of a particular line of engineering work. It began in his boyhood, when, as a lad of 15, he eagerly availed himself of such opportunities as were afforded to help in the construction of a waterworks system for his home town in New England. It was a very modest plant, consisting of a small reservoir and pumping station, and about 4 miles of pipe. Probably it was the most important improvement the town