Report of Independent Accountants
To the Board of Directors of Legg Mason Value Trust, Inc.,
Legg Mason Special Investment Trust, Inc., and Legg Mason
Total Return Trust, Inc.:
In planning and performing our audits of the financial statements
of Legg Mason Value Trust, Inc., Legg Mason Special Investment
Trust, Inc., and Legg Mason Total Return Trust, Inc., (hereafter
referred to as the "Funds") for the year ended March 31, 2000, we
considered their 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 Funds 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
controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions
or that the effectiveness of their 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 error 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 March 31, 2000.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of the
Board of Directors, management and the Securities and Exchange
Commission and is not intended to be and should not be used by
anyone other than these specified parties.
May 5, 2000
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