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                                  Exhibit (99)

Contact at The Thomson Corporation:          Nigel R. Harrison
                                                      Executive Vice President
                                                      203/328-9422

Contact at SCS/Compute:                      Charles G. Wilson
                                                      Executive Vice President
                                                      314/432-7323

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


                 THE THOMSON CORPORATION AND SCS/COMPUTE, INC.
                            APPROVE MERGER AGREEMENT

         ST. LOUIS, December 20, 1995 -- SCS/Compute, Inc. (SCS), a leading
software supplier to tax and accounting professionals, announced today that it
has entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger with Thomson U.S.
Holdings, Inc., a division of The Thomson Corporation (Thomson) of Toronto,
Canada.  The principal activities of Thomson are specialized information and
publishing, and leisure travel.  With annual sales of U.S. $6.5 billion, and
45,000 employees, Thomson operates primarily in North America and the United
Kingdom and has expanding interests internationally.

         Robert W. Nolan, Sr., chairman, president and chief executive officer
of SCS, has entered into a definitive agreement with Thomson to sell his
1,082,570 shares of common stock at a price of $6.75 per share.  Under the
terms of the merger agreement, Thomson will begin a $6.75 per share cash tender
offer no later than Wednesday, December 27, 1995 for the remaining 1,489,407
shares of SCS's outstanding common stock.  SCS is listed on the NASDAQ
Small-Cap Stock market under the symbol SCOMC.

         The Board of Directors of SCS has approved the merger agreement and
has determined that the proposed transaction is fair to, and in the best
interests of, the SCS stockholders.  In reaching this conclusion, the Board of
Directors relied in part upon the fairness opinion from Fister & Associates,
Inc., the financial advisor to SCS.

         The acquisition is subject to more than 50 percent of the shares
outstanding being tendered, including Nolan's stock.  The completion of the
merger is also subject to other customary conditions.  Following the completion
of the transaction, SCS will operate as a separate company within Thomson's
Research Institute of America (RIA) Group.  RIA Group, formed earlier this
year, is comprised of RIA, Warren Gorham & Lamont, and Practitioners Publishing
Company.  Together these professional publishers are one of the leading
information providers to the tax and accounting markets in the United States.








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