Why did the New Deal seek to solve the problems of the Depression through public works, rather than the dole (unemployment benefits) ?

The approach was twofold in the New Deal, getting people to do public work would create employment as well as stimulate the economy and bring the work back. The problem of depression is not always poverty but self-respect lost due to not having the ability to support themselves. Only money could not have solved this issue, the New Deal started by President Roosevelt in 1933 tackled the issue as it should have.