First things first.

The article focuses on the effort of John Schmidt, chairman of Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp., to merge the company's railroad subsidiaries in California. He reasoned that the merger would create a huge amount of savings, but the Interstate Commerce Commission has denied approval of the merger on grounds that it would create monopoly. Meanwhile, the commission gave Schmidt plausible hope of reopening the case if he came up with a new proposal that will address issues on public interest.