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SIGNATURE VINCENT P. CORTI
TITLE SECRETARY
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
American Mutual Fund, Inc.:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial
statements of American Mutual Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") for
the year ended October 31, 1997, we considered its internal
control, including controls over 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 the 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 irregularities may occur and may 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 any specific internal control component 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 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,
including controls over safeguarding securities, that we
consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as of
October 31, 1997.
This report is intended solely for the information and use
of management and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
Los Angeles, California
November 26, 1997
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