Because of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, consumers were protected from the monopolies doing unfair pricing and other things like that. For example, about 5 years after the Sherman Anti Trust Act was made, railroad monopolies couldn't be owned by one person and take over the market, 30 years after that, the standard oil company couldn't take all of the money for themselves, because oil was popular by demand. Even 100 years later, in modern times, AT&T owned most of the market for phone companies and was shutdown by the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. So this work is relevant even today. Many corporations are unable to buy out other companies if they will hold a monopoly.
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