WHO'S NEWS THIS WEEK Asked Alaskan Air Bates; Settles for Road Linking U. S. By LEMUEL F. PARTON ' (Consolidated Features?WNU Service.) XJEW YORK.?Anthony J. Di A mond, Alaska's delegate to con gress since 1933, has a chance to say "You should have listened to m e, ana commend ably r e frains. He begged long and earnestly for air and army bases in Alaska, didn't get what he wanted, and now settles peacefully for that road linking Alaska, Cana da and the U. S. A., work upon which has just been begun by U. S. army troops. Mr. Dimond did the best he could. It was on March 28, 1938, that Mr. Dimond managed, by con siderable effort to fudge a $2,000,840 allowance for an Alas kan air base into the $447,000,000 war department appropriation bill. Congress made mincemeat of the bill and Mr. Dimond's $2,000,000 was an almost un noticed casualty. He said that if a plane wandered up that way it couldn't find any place to roost over night and reminded con gress that it might not be a good idea to leave matters of national defense to the budget bureau. The year before congress had killed a $14,000,000 allowance for an army base in Alaska. Mr. Dimond was a Palatine Bridge, N. Y., school teacher who shoved off to Alaska in the gold rush of 1904, and in Valdez, a settlement of about 300 persons, has been pret ty much owner and operator of his little principality. For about eight years he was engaged in mining and prospecting, and in 1913 took up the practice of law. He was a mayor of Valdez and member of the Alaska Territorial senate from 1923 to 1931. In 1916, he married a Valdez girl and they have three children. Mr. Dimond is a born Joiner and mixer?an Elk, Eagle, Moose and what not. He is sat isfied with his friendly wilder ness and long has insisted that it is worth defending?aside from its importance as a step ping-stone to Canada and the C.8-A. ? TT MIGHT have been better if we * had sent Japan xylophones in stead of scrap-iron. An eight-foot xylophone, made in Chicago, divert v . . . ed Yoichi Hi Xylophone This raoka from Jap's Bridge to his career as Oar Way of Life an economist and brought him to New York tor the edification ct a 7:45 a. m. radio audience, for nearly 12 years. The Pearl Harbor bombs blew him oat of his Job and now Mayor LaGuardla, his Kew Gar dens neighbors, members of the New York Philharmonic Sym phony orchestra and sundry oth ers are arcing NBC to restore his Inspiriting early morning tinkle to the program. It is more than that, however. He was the first man to arrange Bach, Handel, Haydn and others of the great masters for the xylophone. His friends now cite his aid to the U.S.O, the Red Cross, the Y.M.C.A., the New York Institute tor the Education of the Blind and other Patriotic and welfare organi zations. It is apparent that the peti tion in his behalf must fail. NBC officials think there are too many listeners who remember Pearl Har bor. While studying economics at the University of Keio, in Tokyo, he played the little two-foot mokkin, the Japanese version of the xylo phone. He heard an American phonograph xylophone record and borrowed 1500 from his sister for the eight-foot specially designed Chicago Job, big enough for the classical romp of his dreams With such a lure at hand, it must have been hard for him to keep his mind on his work, but, in 1930, he was graduated in economics, with honors. The western musical classics fascinated him. He walked oat an the "dismal science," and persuaded his merchant father to boy him a boat ticket to New York. He landed with only his xylophone, and faced the neces sity of hastily converting his talent Into food and lodging. His neighbors' petition cites him as "an American in loyalty and de votion, in thought and in deed." We once saw him work?a small, lithe man whose body seemed both fluid and precise as he swept the Instrument board with bewil dering swiftness or hovered over it with a gentle caress. A few ship loads of big Chicago xylophones might have turned many Japanese economists, or militarists?they are all one these days?into more co operative world citizens. Also they might have awakened somebody at Pearl Harbor that fateful morning. (Released toy Western Newspaper Union.) ONE of the most important films ever made in this country will be released shortly to motion picture houses throughout the nation. It is "Hidden Hunger," star ring Walter Brennan, present ed by the Federal Security Agency as part of the Nation al Nutrition Program. A sim ple story of better eating for sound health, it's not just a picture with a message; it has a lively and amusing plot, it's highly entertain ing, an excellent, two-reel produc tion made by experienced produc ers, directors and actors. *? Joan Bennett has revived the old fashioned "quilting bee" on the set of her current Columbia film, "High ly Irregular"; she's organized 65 elderly ladies into a group to knit and sew for men in the service. The gossip's modern, Hollywood variety! *? William Lundigan thinks his lucky breaks began when he left Syracuse university in his second year there to take a job in a radio station. An RKO executive whom he inter viewed on the air told him he ought to be in pictures; when a New r>r- - - WILLIAM LDNDIGAN York friend fixed up a test for Uni versal, he just had to stand and talk as he did for radio. He made pic tures for Universal and Warner Bros., then was signed by Metro? and had the luck to land in the star making "Andy Hardy" series, as the new boy friend of Andy's sister in "The Courtship of Andy Hardy." * Jean Arthur was in a scene with Ronald Colman and Cary Grant for "Three's a Crowd"; three soldiers who'd been watching rehearsals had just left. Suddenly an overhead "spider"?a multiple electric switch box?blew out, showering them with sparks. Jean promptly scuttled away. "Where you going?" shouted Director George Stevens. "After those soldiers," she replied, "to put out the bomb!" ?*? Lucille Norman, blonde and 19, went east to go west. She left Steele City, Neb., to win a place as radio ? Infer over a Cincinnati sta tion while tryiny out there for the Metropolitan Opera auditions she was spotted by a movie talent scout, and now she's in Hollywood. ??*? Johnny Johnston, young singing guitarist of radio fame, was picked by Paramount for a co-starring role I with Ellen Drew in "Priorities of 1942"; it's a musical film with the activities of aircraft plant workers | for its story background. *? Recently before "Henry Aldrich" I went on the air a petition was cir- ' culated asking the right to smoke backstage. Just before the broad cast it was slipped into "Mr. Al drich's" script for safekeeping, and he very nearly read it over the mike. *? Note for baseball fans: The Brooklyn Dodgers didn't want that picture about them to be called "Them Lovely Bums," so remem ber that it will be offered to the public as "It Happened in Flatbush" unless somebody thinks up a better title. *? Just before the war department forbade the use of rubber latex Paramount got under the wire, so you'll see a three-foot latex balloon as a prop for Martha O'Driscoll'a bubble dancer scene in "My Heart Belongs to Daddy." *? Al Pearce of the air waves is in terested in adding Marie Blake to his radio gang. She's Jeannette Mac Donald's sister, and you probably saw her somewhere in the "Dr. Kil dare" series of pictures?she played the telephone operator. ODDS AND ENDS?Bill Sunt, radio snorts ?na?nr, nil bo seen ia tbe Los Gehrig film, Tb. Pride of ibo Yankee." ... A fruit deafer wbo louia and adoiirea Edward C. Hobiruon .polla (be "Big Toon" .tor', name out ia fruit ea bit .land . , A Royal Air Font officer torn Frow hot Tout (be uniform Tout wean ia Columbia'. "Highly Irregular" . Roes tiad Russell, who'll .tor in "My Staler Eileenia tinging for (be bays on bar lour of army camp, in (be Southwoa, and (bay lota it . . Jock Beany baa signed a new two-year contract, which will carry him into hi. tenth yam with tha aante sponsor, and bis twelfth as a broadcaster. War in Pacific Hits Pantries U. S. Housewives Deprived Of Spices Imported From Dutch East Indies. WASHINGTON. ? As pantry shelves become depleted of staples long supplied by the Netherlands East Indies, these busy islands loom more important to the American housewife. "Over pirate-infested seas, the earliest galleons sailed from the 'Spice Islands,' their holds filled with the riches of the Indies," re calls a report from the National Geographic society. "More fabulous were the tales of these romantic ad ventures. "Centuries before refrigeration, when spices became prized as food preservatives and taste disguisers, the spice trade built castles for Europe's merchant princes. It in spired Columbus to span the Atlan tic. $4,000,000 Spice BUI. "Uncle Sam's yearly, spice bill from the Netherlands Indies mount ed to some $4,000,000 before the war. Black pepper alone totaled 15,000,000 pounds in 1940, and 65,000,000 pounds the year before, to which should be added 5,000,000 pounds of white pepper. This is 96 per cent of Unit ed States consumption. "Thirteen million pounds of coffee, 31,000,000 pounds of tea, over 300, 000,000 pounds of tapioca, 3,500,000 pounds of nutmeg and 700,000 pounds of cloves, also were shipped to the United States in the same year. "Soap, margarine and lard sub stitutes on the pantry shelves con tained much of the year's receipt of $3,650,000 worth of palm oU from the Netherlands Indies. "The islands produced 90 per cent of the world supply of quinine and about 99 per cent of United States' requirements. periled by Tin Shortage. "The housewife's growing depend ence upon cans lor the preservation ol food will be affected by the short age of tin. Tin had come from the islands recently in increasing quan tities ? $13,000,000 worth in 1940, which was 20 per cent of Uncle Sam's import of the metal. "The 1940 item of $112,000,000 for rubber was the largest of Uncle Sam's purchases from the Nether lands Indies, which normally pro duced 40 per cent of the world sup py, and nearly 30 per cent of United States' requirements. "Paraffin and paraffin wax to the value of $3,000,000 are the only pe troleum products imported in great quantities, though the islands rank fifth in world production of pe troleum. American interests control over 25 per cent of production there. "The richest, most populous and perhaps best known of the islands is Java, a name synonymous with coffee, though a leaf disease in the past century ruined the original variety from Arabia." Say Steel Shavings Put In German Food by Dutch NEW YORK.?The British radio reported that news of a new kind of sabotage against the German armies is contained in a Nazi docu ment which was found by the Rus sians when they captured the head quarters of the 34th German sap per battalion. According to the broadcast steel shavings had been found in tinned meat of Dutch origin which had been supplied to a German army unit. All army supply corps were warned to watch out for this form of sabotage. A ww ? - Appease Bunnies and Save the Fruit Trees LANSING, MICH.?Rabbit attack against fruit and shade tree bark during the winter can be stopped by "appeasing" the bunnies, the Michi gan department of conservation re ports. The department urges farmers to construct shelters of brush and twigs, which not only protect small game but satisfy the food needs of the rabbits. The brush heaps, the department says, are also useful in preventing erosion if left in gullies. Crew Saves Their Ship After Being Torpedoed LONDON.?The British admiralty disclosed