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SIGNATURE EUGENE L. DESTAEBLER, JR.
TITLE V.P., ADMINISTRATION
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SHAREHOLDERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS
GENERAL AMERICAN INVESTORS COMPANY, INC.
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of General
American Investors Company, Inc. for the year ended December 31, 1998, 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, and not to provide assurance on the internal
control.
The management of General American Investors Company, Inc. 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 any 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 the 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 specific internal control components does not reduce to a relatively
low level the risk that 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 the internal control
and its operation, including controls for safeguarding securities, that we
consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as of December 31, 1998.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of the board of
directors and management of General American Investors Company, Inc. and the
Securities Exchange Commission and is not intended to be and should not be used
by anyone other than these specified parties.
Ernst & Young LLP
New York, New York
January 15, 1999
