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SIGNATURE THOMAS G. ROSE
TITLE TREASURER
<TABLE> <S> <C>
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<NAME> TRI-CONTINENTAL CORPORATION
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</TABLE>
INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
The Board of Directors
Tri-Continental Corporation
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of
Tri-Continental Corporation (the "Corporation") for the year ended December 31,
1996, we considered its internal control structure, including procedures for
safeguarding securities, in order to determine our auditing procedures for the
purpose of expressing an opinion on the financial statements and to comply with
the requirements of Form N-SAR, not to provide assurance on the internal control
structure.
The management of the Corporation is responsible for establishing and
maintaining an internal control structure. In fulfilling this responsibility,
estimates and judgments by management are required to assess the expected
benefits and related costs of internal control structure policies and
procedures. Two of the objectives of an internal control structure are to
provide management with reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that assets are
safeguarded against loss from unauthorized use or disposition and that
transactions are executed in accordance with management's authorization and
recorded properly to permit the preparation of financial statements in
conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
Because of the inherent limitations in any internal control structure, errors or
irregularities may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of any evaluation
of the structure to future periods is subject to the risk that it may be
inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the effectiveness of the
design and operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of internal control structure would not necessarily disclose
all matters in the internal control structure 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 the specific internal control structure elements 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 structure, including procedures for safeguarding
securities, that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as of
December 31, 1996.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management and the
Securites and Exchange Commission.
/s/ Deloitte & Touche
- ---------------------
January 31, 1997
