Business: Work v. Dole

Now & again an advertisement appears which catches all the subtleties of a vast subject in a few sentences and deposits a polished idea in the public mind. Such a statement appeared last week in the newspapers of seven big U. S. cities, written by Alvan Macauley, president of Packard Motor Car Co. He posed the question, “A Dollar For Dole—Or An Hour Of Work?”, a question looming larger & larger before the country as the convening of Congress approaches. Mr. Macauley found the root of Depression in the unemployed dollar, “the dollar that is afraid to venture forth. . . . When the slacker dollar goes to work, men will go to work and not before.”

Besides being a leader in a great consuming industry, Alvan Macauley is an able publicist. He did not primarily urge the purchase of a Packard or any other motor car. He did indict idle money. He cited the well-known statistics of raw materials consumed by the motor industry to show that “the motor car dollar will go more places more quickly, and affect more people for quick relief than any other dollar. … It can well become the ‘self-starter’ for better business and greater prosperity.”