How serious was the issue? Well, building up to the passing of the Sherman and Clayton Anti-Trust laws, you could enjoy about a 2-5 year life expectancy in an unventilated textile mill, and have your body thrown in a nearby ditch with other recently deceased workers (no discussion allowed on the assembly line of course, so "what happened to George next to us" was never even brought up until this issue persisted for several decades). Just remember that is what Fascism is promising you.