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SIGNATURE J.G. WHITNEY
TITLE VICE PRES-SECRETARY
[COOPERS & LYBRAND LETTERHEAD]
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANTS
To the Board of Directors of
The Adams Express Company:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements and
financial highlights of The Adams Express Company for the year ended December
31, 1996, we considered its internal control structure, including procedures for
safeguarding securities, in order to determine our auditing procedures for the
purpose of expressing our opinion on the financial statements and financial
highlights and to comply with the requirements of Form N-SAR, not to provide
assurance on the internal control structure.
The management of The Adams Express Company is responsible for
establishing and maintaining an internal control structure. In fulfilling this
responsibility, estimates and judgments by management are required to assess the
expected benefits and related costs of internal control structure policies and
procedures. Two of the objectives of an internal control structure are to
provide management with reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that assets are
safeguarded against loss from unauthorized use or disposition and that
transactions are executed in accordance with management's authorization and
recorded properly to permit preparation of financial statements in conformity
with generally accepted accounting principles.
Because of inherent limitations in any internal control structure,
errors or irregularities may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of any
evaluation of the structure 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 the internal control structure would not
necessarily disclose all matters in the internal control structure 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 the specific internal control structure elements does not
reduce to a relatively low level the risk that errors or irregularities in
amounts that would be material in relation to the financial statements and
financial highlights 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 the internal control structure, including
procedures for safeguarding securities, that we consider to be material
weaknesses, as defined above, as of December 31, 1996.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of the Board
of Directors and management of The Adams Express Company and the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
/s/ Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P.
--------------------------------------
COOPERS & LYBRAND, L.L.P.
Baltimore, Maryland
January 8, 1997
