If these communications describe things accurately, there is apparently no telephone vexation that the Englishman does not have to endure.

Delays in getting connections are apparently chronic.
At times it seems impossible to get connections at all, especially from four to five in the afternoon--when the operators are taking tea.
Suburban connections, which in New York take about ninety seconds, average half an hour in London, and many of the smaller cities have no night service.

An American thinks nothing of putting in a telephone; he notifies his company and in a few days the instrument is installed.

We take a thing like this for granted.

But there are places where a mere telephone subscription, the privilege of having an instrument installed, is a property right of considerable value and where the telephone service has a "waiting list," like an exclusive club.