European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 8, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Chancellor Helmut Schmidt som Ellmes i ask myself whether it to possible to go midlife malaise by Craig Whitney new York times f Germany has come of agent the f prime of but premature Middle a Lime of social and political aches and pains reduced economic and anxiety about the years Why this should be so is a mystery to most of the out Side West Germany has suffered Tram the races but u has been less deeply scarred than any of its there is no social there Are no fringe parties worthy of the name on the extreme and on the left communism a contained political not a growing for All its troubles West Germany is the dominant economic and military Power in Western the people do not perceive themselves in a role of such to Here is a puzzling but very real psychological crisis among the most prominent victim of the old life malaise and its Symbol As Well is the 58yearold Helmut to president Carter and to most of the rest of the who will make an official visit to Washington july is the Strong and powerful Leader of a at Home things seem quite different the cud looks half empty instead of half the Chancel Lor he just come through a period of discontent Hal has shaken his Sel Confidence is the social demo and most of the Basic assumptions on which the country has been building far a Quarter of a there is a pervasive tease of deadlock and Immo touching Al Init every aspect of National it helps explains Why the Carter administrations appeals to Bonn to think Over its  policies and tort Raulte faster Eoo Nolc growth in Europa were not but at the moment Hoco Alwyn of social crafts and free seems worn out by us struggle with West Germany longest re Estfon As Well As More preoccupied with holding its margin in Parlia ment than with carrying out a in May 1s74 Seh Roidt took the chancellors hip from an exhausted Willy Brandt with reputation As an dec Morrris a Man who solved in Vilet to Schmidt sometimes i ask myself whether Anwat the main thing that kept him office Winter was that his conservative Issy deeply divided on All the major ques let the Christian democrats and bavarian Christian social Union can mock most tee of they Odds my each other so they have not been to put  the Christian democratic in con la the summer of 1stj Germany to be at a historical turning and neither this polite the businessmen nor the Ordinary people appear to know which Way to four years ago a visitor coming to Bonn for Lime got a markedly different there was an atmosphere of of liberality a refreshing feeling that in he new Germany almost anything was the Economy was the Mark was so High that american tourists were the wealth seemed in and Brandts Sodal reformers were spread ing it around some of the most generous retirement and unemployment benefits in the voters seemed to have put behind them their preoccupation with ending the division of Germany that was imposed after world War in detente was in us Leonid the soviet visited Bonn to overcome a history full of sorrows and Promise a new epoch of cooperation involving billions of dollars in Trade and today the optimism has Given Way to the liberality to impatient the feeling of fresh Ness to irritation and guarded unemployment is close to a million in a country million 4 per cent of the labor Force and nothing Schmidt has since 1974 has succeeded in pushing it the health insurance and pension systems have become so expensive and swollen by inflation even a 4 per cent inflation Rale is High in German eyes that bankruptcy loomed Early this year and the minister of labor had to Tente u in the the resignation of Brandt la 1j74 after an East German spy was discovered in his and continuing Woven uni by to other communist has wired the More open policy toward Eastern Brezhnev Vait projects have never been realised and a visit in planned to make to West Germany fall has been Oil for a at the same time West Germany new economic Power has brought serious policy conflicts with the United sales into the open after a Quarter of a Century of quiet reacting to such profoundly unsettling the West germans have tended to Retreat into caution and in support for civil liberties has been replaced by popular Calls for a crackdown on left Wing kidnappings and Strid ency by the remnants of Urban guerrilla gangs and the spreading threat of inter National terrorism have led to changes in Law to strengthen the Power of the state Over the the authorities May legally open mall Between those imprisoned on suspicion of terrorism and their and have bugged others without in the enthusiastic support for Brandt in 1872 has july 1977 Iven Way to embittered Heinrich Bui and Gunter crass campaigned for the social democrats then bus is writing Gad satires of Hie zealous protectors of the Constitution in the Namu of de have gathered information on the attitudes of More than civil servants and applicants for five a new wave of film makers is achieving critical acclaim abroad but the bes known Rainer says bitterly we hoped this society would become More instead the opposite has in few enterprises Are finding the courage or the Means to risk new investment in the technology and plants that trill be needed for and for four years even moderate wage demands have not reversed the As it economic growth is even behind the modest s per cent pledge extracted from Schmidt by Carter and other Western leaders at the economic conference in the Mark is Strong Hurt when the Liberal social benefits Are taken into production costs Are higher even than in the United states and twice As High As in v growth has been further placed in jeopardy creasing popular resistance to the Sinclear Power plants that governmental planners were counting on for the electricity Supply in the Leboa All Are being held up by environmental v West is rapidly becoming an older the birth rate has begun falling More drastically than anywhere else in at least partly in response to uncertainties about the future and the High Cost of for the first time since world War ii deaths began exceeding births in and the population la expected to fall by three million io55 million by West Germany is uncomfortable with 1u u wants to to More in dependent of the United states than u the years Tutelage after the but it is afraid of getting too far out of line with United states particular a since on the americans for Security i wants la shown Deyunte weft the soviet Union but cannot pursue it unless the United states x Vav and Schmidt is deeply worked that by his in so Stetce on Clu liberties in the soviet May wreck soviet american and with it West Germany opening to the under which u has been Ante to get the soviet bloc to release ethnic germans since in addition the Quijuan who have a alight in the public4puuon have made car ters position their some of the disquiet May be traced to a bewildered feeling that the rules of International life seem to be despite Carters explanations of what he is trying to it is Felt in he has Only added to the in the stars and stripes Page 13