WEST GERMANY WHO'S NEXT ? CRUSTY OLD CHANCELLOR KONRAD ADENAUER WAS LAYING 
ABOUT HIM WITH SPLENDID GUSTO LAST WEEK, WISECRACKING ABOUT AMERICAN POLITICS 
( " SAY, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO LYNDON JOHNSON .Q? " 
; , NEEDLING THE BRITISH (HE SAYS THEY DELIBERATELY SPREAD MISCONCEPTIONS), 
EVEN TAKING A BACKHANDED DIG AT HIS PAL IN PARIS, CHARLES 
DE GAULLE . " STUPIDITY " WAS THE CAUSE OF WESTERN 
EUROPE'S CURRENT DISUNITY, ADENAUER TOLD A DINNER MEETING OF THE FOREIGN 
PRESS IN BONN . WHOSE STUPIDITY ? " I BELIEVE THESE 
THINGS HAVE BEEN COMMITTED NOT ONLY BY BRITAIN BUT BY OTHERS 
AS WELL, " HE SIGHED . WAS ANY OF IT COMMITTED 
ON THE RIVER SEINE ? ASKED A REPORTER . " I 
DELIBERATELY HAVE NOT MENTIONED ANY NAMES, " RETORTED DER ALTE . 
" WHOEVER FITS THE COAT SHOULD WEAR IT . " ADENAUER'S 
FREE AND EASY REMARKS WERE MERELY SIGNS OF THE RELAXED AND 
REFLECTIVE MOOD THAT HAS COME OVER THE 87-YEAR-OLD CHANCELLOR NOW THAT 
HE HAS FINALLY MADE UP HIS MIND TO GIVE UP WEST 
GERMANY'S TOP JOB . LAST WEEK HE OFFERED NO OBJECTIONS WHEN 
A CAUCUS MEETING OF HIS CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS AUTHORIZED C.D.U . BUNDESTAG 
LEADER HEINRICH VON BRENTANO TO CANVASS ALL THE FACTIONS AND SUGGEST 
A CANDIDATE TO TAKE OVER NEXT FALL AND LEAD THE PARTY 
IN THE 1965 ELECTIONS . THE HEIR-APPARENT IS STILL AVUNCULAR ECONOMICS 
MINISTER LUDWIG ERHARD, ARCHITECT OF THE WEST GERMAN ECONOMIC BOOM, AND 
THE MOST POPULAR CHOICE AMONG WEST GERMAN VOTERS . ONE CABINET 
MINISTER GUESSES THAT ERHARD ALSO COMMANDS THE LOYALTY OF 60 PER 
CENT OF C.D.U . POLITICIANS . BUT ERHARD STILL HAS ONE 
FORMIDABLE ENEMY DER ALTE HIMSELF WHO HAS CONDUCTED A PETULANT FEUD 
WITH PAUNCHY " UNCLE LUDWIG . " ADENAUER'S INFLUENCE IS STILL 
GREAT, AND LAST WEEK THE FIELD WAS STILL WIDE OPEN WITH 
HALF A DOZEN OTHER CANDIDATES, LED BY FOREIGN MINISTER GERHARD SCHRODER, 
TO BE CONSIDERED . WHO WOULD DER ALTE PREFER ? " 
I DON'T WANT TO PSYCH ANYONE INTO MISERY, " HE GRINNED 
IMPISHLY TO FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS . " DO YOU THINK THIS JOB 
IS A PLEASURE ? / 