Central Office Annex Will Alleviate Shortage of Cambridge Telephones

None could be more pleased than the 1600 citizens of Cambridge now waiting for telephones to learn that the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company is building an annex to their Cambridge office to accommodate increasing requests for phones.

John F. Counting, manager of the Cambridge business office, disclosed that the shelter for the annex has already been completed, but that installation of the necessary equipment is not expected to be finished until August or September.

Scarcity of individual lines and connections at the main office rather than an inadequate supply of instruments is to blame for the present shortage of telephones. The only phones now available to the public are those freed by cancelation.

September is Rush Month

"We're only human over here," said Manager Coming, when asked if there would be phones for all with the completion of the new office. "September will be one of our bus lost months with the return of Harvard and M.I.T. students from their summer vacations, and with the publication of our 1948 directory."

"We have generally been able to give students a preference in the allocation of telephones," stated another member of the company's business office. "Special care has been given to returning service men, who were phone owners before enlisting, provided that they applied to have their instruments back before two years had elapsed from their time of separation."