Editing Warren G. Harding (section)

====Business and labor====
[[File:Wharding.jpeg|thumb|right|Harding's official White House portrait, {{circa|1922}} by [[Edmund Hodgson Smart]]]]
{{Further|Great Railroad Strike of 1922}}
Harding's attitude toward business was that government should aid it as much as possible.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|p=83}} He was suspicious of [[organized labor]], viewing it as a conspiracy against business.{{sfn|Sinclair|pp=253–254}} He sought to get them to work together at a conference on unemployment that he called to meet in September 1921 at Hoover's recommendation. Harding warned in his opening address that no federal money would be available. No important legislation came as a result, though some [[public works]] projects were accelerated.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=92–93}}

Within broad limits, Harding allowed each cabinet secretary to run his department as he saw fit.{{sfn|Murray 1973|p=29}} Hoover expanded the Commerce Department to make it more useful to business. This was consistent with Hoover's view that the private sector should take the lead in managing the economy.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|p=84}} Harding greatly respected his Commerce Secretary, often asked his advice, and backed him to the hilt, calling Hoover "the smartest '[[wikt:gink|gink]]' I know".{{sfn|Murray 1973|pp=32–33}}

Widespread strikes marked 1922, as labor sought redress for falling wages and increased unemployment. In April, 500,000 coal miners, led by [[John L. Lewis]], struck over wage cuts. Mining executives argued that the industry was seeing hard times; Lewis accused them of trying to break the union. As the strike became protracted, Harding offered compromise to settle it. As Harding proposed, the miners agreed to return to work, and Congress created a commission to look into their grievances.{{sfn|Trani & Wilson|pp=97–99}}

On July 1, 1922, 400,000 railroad workers went on strike. Harding recommended a settlement that made some concessions, but management objected. Attorney General Daugherty convinced Judge [[James H. Wilkerson]] to issue a sweeping injunction to break the strike. Although there was public support for the Wilkerson injunction, Harding felt it went too far, and had Daugherty and Wilkerson amend it. The injunction succeeded in ending the strike; however, tensions remained high between railroad workers and management for years.{{sfn|Russell|pp=546–549}}

By 1922, the [[eight-hour day]] had become common in American industry. One exception was in [[steel mill]]s, where workers labored through a twelve-hour workday, seven days a week. Hoover considered this practice barbaric and got Harding to convene a conference of steel manufacturers with a view to ending the system. The conference established a committee under the leadership of [[U. S. Steel]] chairman [[Elbert Gary]], which in early 1923 recommended against ending the practice. Harding sent a letter to Gary deploring the result, which was printed in the press, and public outcry caused the manufacturers to reverse themselves and standardize the eight-hour day.{{sfn|Sinclair|pp=255–256}}