The evening world., 1905-10-13
ARCHITECTS
FAVORED BY
The MUTUAL
Probers Hear that Certain
Firms Had to Be Retained
by Borrowers.

In addition to examining President
Richard A MoCurdy, Of the Mutual
Life Insurance Company, as TO the
Mutual's wine cellar and It's so.called
open house al Albany during ses
sions OF the Legislature, lnquisitor
Hughes, OF the Legislative Insurance
Committee, will run his probe into the
Mutual's real estate loans,
II a reported TO Mr., Hughes to.
day that there Il considerable mystery
surrounding the Mutual's methods In
loanlng money on real estate, particu-
larry with reference 20 loans dependiny
solely on the mortgages employment
Of certain architects who stand in the
good graces OF the McCurdys,
As the story runs, II one Of these
favored architects IL not employed to
d. the building, no loan can be nego-
tiated and the understanding 10 that a
property holder desiring to raise money
from Mutual sources for the improve.
ment Of his land would better In all
cases see one OF theae architects be-.
forehand.
Hughes Wants to Know Why,
Mr.. Hughes proposes TO mad out the
meaning OF this arrangement and why
2 CLIQUE or set OF architects should be
favored.
Among the architects who have done
much building in which the Mutual
Life Insurance Company Is interested,
directly or indirectly, by reason Of nav
ing loaned tho money for the work, is
the Arm OF Charles W. Clinton and
william III. Russell, which has a suit
Of offices on the thirteenth floor OF the
Mutual Life building. Charles W, ClIn-
ton was the architect OF that structure,
He has been In partnership with Rus
sell for twelve or thirteen years, and
ton was the architect OF that structure.
New York. including No. 90 Wall street
and the Broad Exchange building, have
been planned and erected by them.
TT Is not rue said Mr.. Russell, to-
day, 10 a reporter OF The Evening
World. that this firm or either myself
or Mr., Clinton as individuals has ever
acted as an Intermediary as between
viz NlNNhhl LAAN Agh aaANN CHAAkaAaf
and any applican; tor a loan for build
ing purposes. Mr.. Clinton put up the
Mutual building before | became his
partner. He won the contract In open
competition. We have had our Offices
here ever since the erection Of the
building, and ! must say hat II has
been an advantage 10 us because OF
The large works W GASs CARRIED ouI
In this district
Often Examine Properties,
often we are called in by the Mutual
to examine properties and buildings
upon which loans are 10 be made for
building purposes. We receive compen-
for this work, but ! must say
that the fee Is not what one coulde call
unusual. No doubt we get much Of this
work because OF our tenancy In the
Mutual Building and because We are
10 the company.
Are the McCurdys related TO us or
we 10 them? No. indeed. There 10 no
one in the Mutual Company who be-
10 US by blood or marriage nor
ANYBODY in our hrm who belongs 10
anybody In the Mutual.
'You think that Mr.. Hughes Will ask
Mr.. MoCurdy about this? That he VIII
bring out all the architects who have
done work for the Mutual? Well, all
I can say Is that while perhaps II may
be shown We have done more for the
company In a professional way than
any other architects there has been
no favoritism in II and We have never
thought that there was, We have sim
ply stood on bottom In all
our dealings"