I think the author here might be trying to point out, albeit in a very roundabout way, how capitalism is evil. Those with corrupt morals are the only ones who can truly succeed. Their success pushes others into the mud, in turn causing their morals to degrade simply because it’s necessary for them to survive. In addition to this, Sinclair points out how it destroys family morals as well. Teta Elzbieta’s child Kristoforas isn’t missed at all when he finally dies, because he was a drain on the family’s resources. In any better situation, there would have been many tears for his death because it wouldn’t affect the others’ chance at survival. Furthermore, those who run the whole system lose all sense of morality as their success greatens. Because they are profiting so much, they end up committing one of the seven deadly sins--greed.
Having been written at the time when this was actually happening, I think the book was definitely meant to bring the issue of the cheap labor industry to the attention of the everyday American. It’s likely that a lot of people knew about what was going on, but they just chose to ignore it. Other people probably knew about it, but were profiting from the suffering of the people at the bottom of the chain, and so chose not to do anything about it.
As a random tidbit, I watched Moulin Rouge a few days ago, and the main character died of consumption. So yes, I’m pretty sure it’s a disease of the lungs that makes you cough up blood.
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