And just what does a free market have to do with Anti Trust?
Monopolies(and cartels) can grow in only two ways. A monopoly works just as hard to keep its costs low and its quality high as if it were in intense competition and thus no one else sees any profit in entering the market or it is protected by government. In the first case the fact that there is only one source for a product is irrelevant. The “monopoly” does not have price power. If it raises its prices to a level that permits someone else to see a chance for profit then the monopoly ceases to be. In other words it is not really a monopoly. In the second case the government restrains trade and hampers the market for the benefit of one company so that it can charge higher prices than a competitive market would warrant and does not have to keep quality high. The Trusts, as with any cartel, only retain power so long as they have political protection. The larger the government the more opportunity there is for the purchase of protection.
I agree with your points on free market vs anti-trust laws. If we abandon antitrust laws though, we need to abandon all the ways the government interferes in the market too, because they are essentially enabling collusion and monopolistic behavior through the tax code, regulations, congressional favors, etc ;-)