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SIGNATURE HENRY G. VAN DER EB, JR.
TITLE CHAIRMAN
<TABLE> <S> <C>
<ARTICLE> 6
<S> <C>
<PERIOD-TYPE> YEAR
<FISCAL-YEAR-END> DEC-31-1998
<PERIOD-END> DEC-31-1998
<INVESTMENTS-AT-COST> 111,496,595
<INVESTMENTS-AT-VALUE> 111,961,330
<RECEIVABLES> 5,646,444
<ASSETS-OTHER> 789
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<TOTAL-LIABILITIES> 9,060,978
<SENIOR-EQUITY> 0
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<SHARES-COMMON-STOCK> 9,252,443
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</TABLE>
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
To the Shareholders and
Board of Directors of
Mathers Fund, Inc.:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements
of MATHERS FUND, INC., for the year ended December 31, 1998, we
considered its internal control, including control activities for
safeguarding securities, in order to determine out 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 Mathers Fund, 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 internal control, error 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 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 if 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, 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
management, the Board of directors of Mathers Fund, Inc. and the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
ARTHUR ANDERSEN LLP
Chicago, Illinois
January 15, 1999
Item 77Q
At a meeting of the Board of Directors of Mathers Fund, Inc.
held on February 8, 1999, the following resolution was unanimously
adopted:
Resolved, that Article II, Section 1, of the By-laws of
the corporation be, and it hereby is amended to read as
follows:
Effective January 1, 1999, the number of
directors of the corporation shall be eight.
