European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 17, 1948, Darmstadt, Hesse                                S. Big Swiss by Sterling lord photographs by Hans Hubman Gottlieb Duttweiler earns a lot of Moi key Selling groceries. He puts most of it to work for the Public Zurich Ottlieb Duttweiler s opponents say he s too big for his britches. Some of his most sym pathetic admirers maintain that he s too big for his country. As Switzer land s most aggressive big business Man he has a Large part of the Swiss Public actively aligned with and against him. At the vortex of this squabble Duttweiler himself Sticks placidly to his self ordained Mission of putting capital to work for the Public. He Calls this program disinterested capitalism that is capital disinterested in  Friend and foe alike have compare the 59-year-old capitalist to. Henry Kaiser. The smallness of his native land does t minimize the comparison. Fact of the matter is that the hulking Gray haired Duttweiler is involved in More than 24 major. Swiss enterprises More than half of which he has created. He is in the publishing Busi Ness groceries Cut Flowers. Travel Agency work clothing manufacture railroading the movie Industry and the organization and management of adult schools. In politics he is the Leader of the Swiss independents which he likes to Call no party at All. Actually he says through the thin Haze of Cigar smoke that often envelopes his face we re not a party just a group. Wedon t have a platform. We re just the Swiss  Duttweiler s group of opposition is composed of metropolitan Middle class Swiss citizens. The same people attend his schools read his newspaper diktat buy groceries from the federation of micros cooperatives. In micros his first and largest Enterprise Duttweiler started to destroy what he refers to Asa Basic evil of  he tried to eliminate the middleman i commodity distribution to reduce the Steps Between the factory or the pro Ducer and the eventual consumer. Today that program has come  Many things to the Swiss House wife from micros she buys groceries from a modern efficient store in Odd denomination lots sometimes in bulk generally cheaper fresh and this has. Been ingrained As a result of a 23-year-old Duttweiler advertising program of Good Quality. When she s buying  get rid of Small change Dutt Weiler Sells almost entirely in franc or half franc denominations rather than by even weights. Today for example instead of Selling Brussels sprouts in one kilogram boxes he Sells 835 Grams for one Swiss franc. If the housewife does t live near a micros store  t get there Fie walks to a nearby Corner at a pre scheduled time to await micros delivery Van. Every weekday morning 140 micros trucks loaded wit fresh bread dough cakes and dozens of other grocery items Roll out of the 11migros warehouses scattered through out Switzerland. No one of them Overdrives up to a Back door. Housewives learn the Drivers schedules wait in groups on Street Corners for their ten or 15 minute sales  of the micros sold goods Are also micros manufactured. They reach the customer faster and travel through fewer intermediary processes. Biscuits bread or preserves shipped from the micros owned pro Duclion . In me Lento the micros warehouse in Luzern on one Day May be bought the following Day by a Luzern housewife who prob ably does t realize that the Container for the preserve is also a micros product. Under Dutweiler micros grew Froman outfit with Only five Model t Fords Aris a Small consignment of groceries at its founding in 1925, to one of the largest cooperatives in Switzerland. The growth of micros also Spring boarded Duttweiler into becoming one of the most dynamic forces in Swiss political and social life. It also helped make Hima somewhat of an ambivalent Char Acter. Today his. Opponents accuse the soft spoken National Council Swiss lower House. Member of using dictatorial methods in both business and politics yet even they admit that he 10 has a healthy sense of humor that never belonged to Gogny dictator and among the cleric a a Young executive around the micros office he is known As  micros grosses 30million dollars annually his yearly salary As its president is less than $9000.his total annual income including micros salary is �19,572 yet he in variably rides trains third class and will own nothing but his tiny unpretentious Fiat. Topolino. In 1940 he turned his corporation into micros cooperative which today is owned by 133,000 Swiss citizens each of whom including Duttweiler has Only one $7 share of Stock. Before he started micros Duttweiler fellow workers knew him As a Man " who put in Long hard hours on the  today the six foot former grocery clerk gets up regularly at 6 45 a.  is invariably in his office at eight  during the summer every monday he meets with the supervisory committee of the Zurich can tonal Bank. On a typical Day at the of fice he might follow this with a Micro aboard of directors meeting at nine then two hours of dictating letters. His lunch periods Are sprinkled with appointments restless he eats As if he Felt it were a waste of time. His afternoon May include meeting with the Central committee of the in dependent party a conference with the director of Swiss highways his evening a Public address. If he in t scheduled to speak he May stay in the of fice until 7 30 p. M. Then he is Home Andin bed by 9 30, after which he engages in a period of creative.,thought. I get my thinking done at night he explains. It s the Only time i have i which to explore mentally. All Day Long fellow workers and visitors keep poking verbal revolvers at me they keep me Busy just answering yes or no during the Day Duttweiler accomplishes most of his business a Tiv ties which extend Over tin Switzerland and often to the Remote parts of the world from a Small simple almost Dingy office on the second floor of the Central micros warehouse in Zurich. His Plain Oak Walnut stained desk stands nearly in the Center of a Roo Only twelve feet Long less than ten feet wide. Built into the top of the desk Isa Telephone switch Box with Twenty two external lines running to other office sin the warehouse buildings. On his desk Are regularly among the Normal  a Box or two of cigars a vase of Flowers a Glass of Orange juice. Almost a non alcoholic he drinks the stuff All Day Long during the Winter and samples of whatever micros commodities he happens to be testing that Day. To keep a Check on his products he maintains an analytical Laboratory and in addition he personally tastes micros commodities ranging from coffe Eto Catsup or salad Oil bottles of which clutter his office desk during the tests. Visitors who watch him moving Back and Forth behind his desk will also catch sight of two pen and in originals hanging on the Wall from the Swiss Magazine Nebe Spalter. Which dramatize Duttweiler s continual Strug Gle to educate the Public against the mis representative contents of  campaigning May have forced nes cafe to a Flange their labels from extract from pure Coffee to extract from pure Coffee with natural flavors,".May produce a further change. Mean while Duttweiler sold his american extract which he advertised As "100 per cent Coffee extract an advertising boast. He told his customers he was ready to prove. Duttweiler s nescafe Campaign Andall his other programs to Challenge the Quality and claims of rival products orto explain the contents of his own Are done through a series of informative article Type ads which he has called die Zeitung in Der Zeitung Duttweiler who Calls journalism his Hobby write these ads himself. In them he explains micros merchandising methods talks imaginative hard working Gottlieb Duttweiler at 59 is still planning new enterprises making new. Friends among the people enemies among politicians. About micros purchasing and How saving on a specific Lar a Purchase will be passed on to micros customers. Asa result of these ads which have appeared More than nine Hundred times customers began to feel they were being taken behind the scenes had become apart of the micros organization. One housewife wrote him where did you learn your advertising i mean where did you learn to address the housewife not As a minor As Many do but simply As a human being. Figures Are generally bore but with you they take life. Because we know that you earn it Wedon t grudge you a  _ Duttweiler s Progress in advertising has been accompanied by a correspond ing growth in micros from his five orig Inal trucks carrying Only Rice sugar noodles shortening Coffee and soap to140 rolling stores and 150 micros shops today. The Progress has not been uneasy one. For a Man of less imagination personal courage and Energy and de Votion to an idea Duttweiler s Job might have been impossible. His has been continual Battle against Public opinion. Largely because his merchandising idea were new and because he Cut prices there was a great Deal of reaction against him. The Outlook was so Black that at the end of the third month of operation the organizers held their first anniversary banquet they did t be Lieve it would last a full  of micros to the Point where it was a going concern gave Dutt Weiler time to expand his interests and gave him some capital which he could socialize. In the beginning his micros policy had been Good compensation forthe entrepreneur and the workers the main profit to the  enlarging upon that idea in a number of non profit ventures Duttweiler found him self trying to show the Swiss people How to have a Good  to do this intelligently Duttweiler realized demanded that he have a keen knowledge of his countrymen. That he has this knowledge is evidenced by the successor his non profit ventures. The Swiss Are naturally cold people and ant anti social people. They Are intelligent but they have a natural resistance to group. Social life. I am trying to brighten up the Dull Swiss people.". One of his latest social stimulants is the Klu whatts a three Story building on the Lake of Zurich just a few blocks from the heart of the City which Dutt Weiler bought a year ago and gave tothe people. Actually the building is designed primarily for use of the twelve thousand students at the micros club school for adults in Zurich but it lounges Reading rooms and two dining rooms Are open to the general Public. Since May 6,1944, when classes were first opened the club school for adults has grown to the Point where operating in ten Swiss cities its 2000 classes enrol 28,000 students up to 60 years Osage who study anything from dancing to dress designing but primarily languages. Ninety per cent of the club school students in Switzerland and. Duttweiler s Are the most heavily enrolled language schools in the country study languages including English russian German French Spanish polish and italian As do 80 per cent of the 12,000 students in his Zurich  5000 of these Zurich students Duttweiler says Are learning  re getting one lesson a week for less than $1.50 a  for Duttweiler to conscientiously promulgate the ideals he professes twas almost inevitable that he be drawn into politics. In 1935 he started the nucleus of what today is called the Landes ring Der Unab Hannigen or in dependents. On a. Platform As. Unique As most of the Duttweiler business methods it included proposals for popularization of a Swiss manufactured fruit juice and establishment of a paper Mill to employ men who were deaf or otherwise handicapped Duttweiler and six other independents in a precedent smashing vote were elected to the National Council. The event marked the beginning of Stormy political debates in Berrie for the new Council member who thought the Swiss were nearly asleep politically fought for his ideals of economic Freedom in the state legislative  s personal politics he has no definite platform but just votes for what he thinks is right on each particular Issue have been popular enough to mean his re election at every National Council vote since 1935. It  been a constant source of Algrava weekend april 17, 1m