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<PAGE> PAGE 10
SIGNATURE VINCENT P. CORTI
TITLE SECRETARY
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
American Mutual Fund:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of
American Mutual Fund (the "Fund") for the year ended October 31,
1998 (on which we have issued our report dated November 30, 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 Fund's 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 any internal control, errors or
fraud 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 Fund's 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 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 Fund's internal control and its
operation, including controls for safeguarding securities, that we
consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as of October
31, 1998.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of
management, the Board of Directors of American Mutual Fund, and the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP
Los Angeles, California
November 30, 1998
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