Page 11 - Jan 2019 MFM.indd

"Even if the blue lodge started giving away memberships, it’s doubtful that we could fi nd enough people who
even remembered who the Freemasons are, and even fewer who would want to become one. The damage is
already done, and we are now in a free fall that threatens to erase the remains of North American Freemasonry.
This means the closure and rollback of individual state Grand Lodges. This will mean the selling of more
Masonic properties and assets, and the selling or divesting publicly of our privately funded institutions."
-Author Unknown

Figure 9. Member deaths by year 1866-2016.

Figure 9, above shows the deaths by year. While at fi rst glance it might appear that the deaths are on the
decline but remember that we have far fewer members now and this is a refl ection of deaths to the number of
Masons at a given point in time. Nonetheless, it should be a bit alarming.

Figure 10. Members who Dimitted to Other Lodges 1866-2016.

Figure 10, above shows the number of members who took a Dimit to join another Lodge. There are many
reasons for a member to request a non-affi liate dimit, his age may prevent him from attending, he may have lost
interest, a new found religious belief, moved to a new location or perhaps he cannot attend for some reason.
For Montana, these seemed to have peaked about 1977, and now in decline overall, the number of non-affi liate
dimits has been low.
Volume 95 Number 1 Montana Freemason Page 11