Exhibit 18.1
August 14, 1995
To the Board of Directors
of Ball Corporation

Dear Directors:

We have  been  furnished  with a copy of the  Corporation's  Form  10-Q  for the
quarter ended July 2, 1995.  Note 3 therein  describes a change in the method of
determining the cost of certain inventories from the first- in, first-out to the
last-in, first-out method. It should be understood that the preferability of one
acceptable method of inventory accounting over another has not been addressed in
any authoritative accounting literature and in arriving at our opinion expressed
below, we have relied on management's business planning and judgment. Based upon
our  discussions  with  management  and the stated  reasons for the  change,  we
believe that such change represents,  in your  circumstances,  the adoption of a
preferable  alternative  accounting principle for inventories in conformity with
Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 20.

We have not  made an  audit  in  accordance  with  generally  accepted  auditing
standards of the financial  statements of Ball  Corporation for the three-months
or six-month  periods  ended July 2, 1995 or July 2, 1994 and,  accordingly,  we
express no opinion thereon or on the financial  information filed as part of the
Form 10-Q of which this letter is to be an exhibit. 

Yours very truly,




/s/PRICE WATERHOUSE LLP