Buying up competitors: The majority of Standard Oil buyouts were not aggressive and benefited both parties. As Hidy notes, "Rockefeller and his associates ... won the confidence of competitors through comprehensive voluntary association." Many of the former executives of the firms which were bought up were offered high-ranking position in the new company and a guarantee of equality in management and were integrated into the management due to their experience in refining and their knowledge of local markets.
I mean, it seems like it would make sense to just integrate workers from the company you just bought out due to their knowledge of the area and system in general.
"Instead, the Trust was very much a cooperation of different companies[citation needed] which sought to improve their competitive advantage and which still maintained competition even in-between the member companies.
Any truth to this as well? I am trying to research it but I usually just find hundreds of articles bashing standard oil.
Here is the link: http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Standard_Oil
Standard Oil was absolutely a monopoly. When the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed in 1890, people had a general and vague sense that monopolies were bad. It wasn't really until Robert Bork (future Supreme Court nominee) wrote The Antitrust Paradox in 1978 that there was a change in antitrust approach to consumer welfare--that is, the purpose of antitrust work was for the benefit of consumers.
There have been a lot of debate about the meaning of consumer welfare and the power of monopolies/monopsonies/oligopolies to protect consumers; the proverbial jury is still out.
However, in reference to your specific question, just because Standard Oil bought out its competitors so as to benefit both parties doesn't mean it benefited consumers. For instance, when AT&T wanted to merge with T-Mobile, the threat was not that it would hurt either company; the threat was that diminished competition would harm consumers.
I am not familiar at all with any evidence that the trust maintained competition between the member companies. I have read, but cannot immediately point to, contrary evidence.