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Figure 5. Members Reinstated by year 1866-2016.

Figure 5, above, shows the number of members reinstated. This contributes little to the increase of membership,
averaged out it amounts to about 85 members per year for the jurisdiction.

However, as you can see the number of reinstatements per year continues to decline. The continuing loss of
members in Lodges causes fi scal problems for them and for the Grand Lodge the reduction of members cause
both to either lose or cease to be fi nancially viable and, forcing more lodges to surrender their Charters or
consolidate with another lodge.

Figure 6. Members Affi liating to a Montana Lodge by year 1866-2016.
In Figure 6, above the number of affi liations per year presents some interesting information. For some reason,
the number of affi liations were not tracked from 1866 through 1925. Starting in 1926 we see the number of
affi liations, and it looks good up until about 1960, and it too starts to go into a steady decline.

The concordant bodies of Masonry are all faced with the same dilemma, and in many cases, they have had
a more substantial loss of membership and negative fi nancial impact. Some have found it diffi cult to keep
solvent, which in turn puts an increased fi nancial burden upon that concordant body and upon the Lodges and
Grand Lodge.
Volume 95 Number 1 Montana Freemason Page 9