OCR
Xx 14 Nov.52 - page three Once he would be gone, they would be left without power. Ameng them there is net ene whe eeuld be the suecesser of the Chancelier. As of present, nevertheless, Adenauer seems te enjoy unlimited reserves ef energy. The amount of work he does, the vastness of his knewledge, the keenness ef his yidespread intere ts are superior te any of n 1 t i s hi laberaters, While from 128225 BERV Ens ARS aT ohay SHU HS hsareH tens Gaal set sot to be justified. Still his age will tel. sooner or later, though Adenauer himself is far from thinking of retirement and makes plans fer the full peried of the ceming legislature - that is till 1957. Besides Adenauer there is very little in the majority as possible successors, The most likely one is Finance Minister Sehüffer, a Censervative Bavarian of some sixty-edd years; a man of great cenvictiens, a clear record and much seundness, But alse a man without much personal magnetism, a good administrater rather than a great political leader. Franz—Jeseph Strauss, a young 8,varian Member of Parliament for the CSU, alse mentioned frequently as a possible sueeesser, has lest much ground recently, He lacks still te mueh experience and alse education, There seems little else in the CDU-CSU bleck, Sueh first class honest administraters, as Pest Minister Sehuberth, Refugee Minister Lukaschek er Publie Werks Minister Sterch are good in their respective departments, but have no great political stature. The only other person of real consequence is the Speaker of the Parliament, Herr Ehlers. An enormous, heavy man, Ehlers is a lay Protestant leader from Oldenburg. He has firm religieus cenvictions, an independent mind and very clear-eut pelitical views. He dees net like Adenauer, is fis to seme extent his rival, but helps the Party very meh. His authority in parliament is great. While he might have a chance at the Prime Minister's position in seme future combination, it seems unlikely that Ehlers would be an active econtender fer the jeb. He is satisfied where he is now. One more pere son to be mentioned in this context is Jakob Kaiser, former leader of the Hast German CDU and now Minister fer Intra-German Affairs, A heavy, unbearably pempeus and dull persen, Kaiser has a burning persenal ambition. Surreunded by people ef similar mind, he is the eenter ef the mest active intrigue against the Chaneeller. His Ministry id badly erganized, does harm to German Foreign Poliey and is a bad outfit. Adenauer yould obviously like te get rid ef the persennage, but can not de so at present with regards to the Berlin situation. Though Kaiser hepes one day te be Chancellor, this new seems remote, especially since everybody in parliament, with few exceptions seems te have taken an active dislike to him, The twe other parties ef the governement coalition have alse no ene to put in Adenauer's place. Ameng the Mambers of the FDP the Liberal Party - two men are dominating the greup : The first S6.