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SIGNATURE HOWARD L. KITZMILLER
TITLE SECRETARY
WARNING: THE EDGAR SYSTEM ENCOUNTERED ERROR(S) WHILE PROCESSING THIS SCHEDULE.
<TABLE> <S> <C>
<ARTICLE> 6
<MULTIPLIER> 1000
<S> <C>
<PERIOD-TYPE> YEAR
<FISCAL-YEAR-END> APR-30-1999
<PERIOD-END> APR-30-1999
<INVESTMENTS-AT-COST> 38495085
<INVESTMENTS-AT-VALUE> 56909498
<RECEIVABLES> 391822
<ASSETS-OTHER> 251
<OTHER-ITEMS-ASSETS> 0
<TOTAL-ASSETS> 57301571
<PAYABLE-FOR-SECURITIES> 192301
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<TOTAL-LIABILITIES> 283346
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<SHARES-COMMON-STOCK> 1614725331
<SHARES-COMMON-PRIOR> 1349017791
<ACCUMULATED-NII-CURRENT> 112641
<OVERDISTRIBUTION-NII> 0
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</TABLE>
May 28, 1999
To the Board of Directors of
Washington Mutual Investors Fund, Inc.
In planning and performing our audit of the financial
statements of Washington Mutual Investors Fund, Inc. (the
"Fund") for the year ended April 30, 1999, we considered its
internal control, including control activities for safeguarding
securities, in order to determine our auditing procedures for
the purpose of expressing our opinion on the financial
statements and to comply with the requirements of Form N-SAR,
not to provide assurance on internal control.
The management of the Fund is responsible for establishing and
maintaining internal control. In fulfilling this
responsibility, estimates and judgments by management are
required to assess the expected benefits and related costs of
controls. Generally, controls that are relevant to an audit
pertain to the entity's objective of preparing financial
statements for external purposes that are fairly presented in
conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
Those controls include the safeguarding of assets against
unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in internal control, errors or
fraud may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of any
evaluation of internal control to future periods is subject to
the risk that it may become inadequate because of changes in
conditions or that the effectiveness of the design and
operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of internal control would not necessarily
disclose all matters in internal control that might be material
weaknesses under standards established by the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants. A material weakness
is a condition in which the design or operation of one or more
of the internal control components does not reduce to a
relatively low level the risk that misstatements caused by
errors or fraud in amounts that would be material in relation
to the financial statements being audited may occur and not be
detected within a timely period by employees in the normal
course of performing their assigned functions. However, we
noted no matters involving internal control and its operation,
including controls for safeguarding securities, that we
consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as of April
30, 1999.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of
management and the Board of Directors of the Fund and the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP
Los Angeles, California
