25 Years Ago In The Actuarial Review

(From Stan Hughey's "From the President" column:)

Yesterday's Questions

As actuaries, did we individually and collectively do all we could and should have done to avoid some of the staggering underwriting and investment losses our companies have incurred?

For 1974, should we have foreseen the sharply higher fire losses (not just the storms), the continued mushrooming of liability claims, the impact of inflation on auto claims, the additional dollars needed for older compensation claims, and the collapse of the stock market? Should we have suggested ways to blunt or minimize the impact of these factors?

(Still good questions today, even though some of the issues may have changed.)

(From an editorial by George Morison:)

One-Way Communication

It has been emphasized from the beginning that one of the most important functions of The Actuarial Review is to provide a vehicle for readers to comment, question, complain about any aspect of property/liability actuarial doings. Each of the three editorials published to date challenged readers to express their opinions on countless topics in these pages.

While the staff can continue to fill the space with items of interest (subjectively selected) the objectives intended in adding this periodical to the list of Society activities would be better achieved if readers would take the time to express their opinions for publication.

(Getting more opinions from our readers is still our major concern. It is also of interest to note that in the issue 25 years ago, Allen Bell submitted his first of many double-crostics for the "It's a Puzzlement" column.)