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THE   NEW  YORK AIR  BRAKE  COMPANY

165   BROADWAY
 

New York, March 8th,  1922.
TO THE STOCKHOLDERS:

The thirty-second Annual Report of The New York Air Brake Company,
covering the business of the Company for the calendar year 1921, and offering a
summary of conditions at the close of business December 31, is hereby submitted

Your Company experienced the very unusual conditions which existed during
the year 1921, and which were so common with practically all industrial corpora¬
tions. Our gross sales were about one-third of that of the previous year, and were
about one-half of the average for the previous nine years; this condition was due
entirely to the lack of buying on the part of the railroads. The business which
we booked for the first quarter of the year 1921 was very encouraging, but the
entire collapse of the purchasing market for the balance of the year made it im¬
possible to carry on our manufacturing operations at a profit. Operations for the
year resulted in a loss of $458,699.32.

The lack of business during the past nine months made it possible for your
officers to give their attention to a close study of our plant facilities, and settlement
of many of the matters which had been carried forward as a result of our War
operations. We have proceeded diligently with a careful survey of our properties
and plants with a view to placing them under the very best operating conditions.
The large additions to our plants which we made to take care of our War orders
have been idle, and re-arrangement and disposition of much of this equipment was
absolutely necessary. In order that we might have the benefit of outside expert
advise regarding our plant values we employed the American Appraisal Company
to review same and they have submitted their report giving a value based upon
conditions and prices prevailing in 1921.

Your officers had felt that they had been very liberal in the past in charging
off annual depreciation, but the amounts previously charged off had not been suf¬
ficient to absorb the heavy shrinkage in values due to after war market prices. We
have, in order to be conservative, written off against Surplus Account the sum of
$955,508.78, which is really in the nature of extraordinary depreciation and we
now have every reason to believe that our plant values are on a sound and sub¬
stantial going basis.
 

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