The Goals of antitrust policy

The latter half of the nineteenth century saw the creation of a national economy in the United States. The railroad, telephone, and telegraph linked together what had been regional or local markets. A reorganization of production and distribution followed the establishment of this industrial infrastructure. Many of the large manufactures and retailers of the present day trace their lineage to this time. These large firms were often formed by consolidation through the merger of much smaller, previously independent, firms. Frequently, these consolidations were carried out by holding companies or trusts. More often than not, they dominated the markets in which they operated.