The Semantic War
by Bill Clothier · English · Gutenberg #51153 · 36,023 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Semantic War
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: The Semantic War
Author: Bill Clothier
Illustrator: Wes
Release date: February 8, 2016 [eBook #51153]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51153
Credits: Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEMANTIC WAR ***
THE SEMANTIC WAR
By BILL CLOTHIER
Illustrated by WES
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Galaxy Science Fiction November 1955.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Perhaps there have been causes for slaughter
just as silly as this was--but try to find one!
The rain pours down chill out of a sullen sky. My pace quickens as I
try to regain the relative warmth and shelter of the cavern before I
become thoroughly drenched. I cannot afford to catch a cold. All alone
as I am and with no medicine, I would stand too great a chance of a
quick death. These lowering Oregon skies still hold traces of nameless
disease in their writhing cloud tendrils. I am not just afraid of
a cold. That would only be the key for some other malady to use and
strike me down forever.
I see the cave up ahead and feel a sense of contentment as I draw near
and then duck inside its stony mouth. The rain hisses without, but
inside it is dry. There is a heavy cow-hide hanging on a peg in the
wall and I take it down and wrap it around me. Soon I will be warm.
Once more I may stave off my ultimate end.
Sometimes I wonder why I wish to put it off. Certainly, according to my
old standards, there is no point in living. But somehow I feel that the
mere fact of living is justification in itself. Even for such a life as
mine.
I didn't always feel this way. But then circumstances change and people
change with them. I changed my circumstances more than myself, but I
had no alternative. So now I exist.
I suppose I should be content. After all, I am alive and, in my own
simple way, I enjoy life. I can remember people who asked nothing more
than to be allowed to live--to exist. Ironically enough, I always
considered them sub-normal. I felt that a man should strive to do
something that would not only perpetuate the happiness of his own
life but that of his fellow-men. Something that would make life more
beautiful, and easier, and more kind.
* * * * *
It was with this feeling that I applied myself as a student of
philosophy at Stanford University. And the strengthening of this same
belief led me to take up teaching and embrace it as the only way of
obtaining genuine happiness. My personal philosophy was simple. I
would learn about life in all its real and symbolic meanings and then
teach it to my pupils, each of whom, I felt sure, were thirsting for
the knowledge that I was extracting from my cultural environment. I
would show them the meaning behind things. That, I felt, was the key to
successful living.
Now it seems strangely pathetic that I should have essayed such an
impossible task. But even a professor of philosophy can be mistaken and
become confused.
I remember when I first became aware of the movement. For years, we had
been drilling certain precepts into the soft, impressionable heads of
those students who came under our influence. Liberalism, some called
it, the right to take the values accumulated by society over a period
of hundreds of years and bend them to fit whatever idea or act was
contemplated. By such methods, it was possible to fit the mores to the
deed, not the deed to the mores. Oh, it was a wonderful theory, one
that promised to project all human activities entirely beyond good and
evil.
However, I digress. It was a spring morning at Berkeley, California,
when I had my first inkling of the movement. I was sitting in my office
gazing out the window and considering life in my usual contemplative
fashion. I might say I was being rather smug. I was thinking how
fortunate I was to have been graduated from Stanford with such high
honors, and how my good luck had stayed with me until I received my
doctor's degree in a famous Eastern university and came out to take an
associate professorship at the Berkeley campus.
I was watching the hurrying figures below on the crosswalks and idly
noting the brilliant green of the shrubbery and the trees and the lawn.
I was mixing up Keats with a bit of philosophy and thoroughly enjoying
myself. Knowledge is truth, truth beauty, I mused, that is all we know
on Earth, and all we need to know.
There was a knock on my door and I said come in, reluctantly abandoning
my train of thought which had just picked up Shakespeare, whom I was
going to consider as two-thirds philosopher and one-third poet. I
have never felt that the field of literature had the sole claim to
Shakespeare's greatness.
* * * * *
Professor Lillick came in, visibly perturbed. Lillick was a somewhat
erratic individual (for a professor, at least) and he was often
perturbed. Once he became excited about the possibilities of the campus
shrubbery being stunted and discolored by the actions of certain dogs
living on campus. He was not a philosophy professor, of course, but a
member of the political science group.
"Carlson," he asked nervously, "have you heard about it yet?"
"I have no idea," I returned good-naturedly. "Heard about what?"
He looked behind him as if he thought he might be followed. Then
he whirled around, his sharp-featured face alight with feeling.
"Carlson--the Wistick dufels the Moraddy!" And he stared at me
intently, his gimlet eyes almost blazing.
I stared back at him blankly.
"You haven't heard!" he exclaimed. "I thought surely you would know
about it. You're always talking about freedom to apply thought for the
good of humanity. Well, we're finally going to do something about it.
You'll see. Keep your ears open, Carlson." Then he turned and started
out of the room. He paused at the threshold and fixed me again with
his ferretlike eyes. "The Wistick dufels the Moraddy!" he said, and
vanished through the door.
And that was my first unheeded omen of what was to come. I paid little
attention to it. Lillick wasn't the sort of man who inspired attention.
As a matter of fact, I considered reporting him to the head of his
department as being on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But I didn't.
In those days, nervous breakdowns were a common occurrence around
college campuses. The educational profession was a very hazardous
occupation. One Southern university, for example, reported five faculty
suicides during spring quarter.
* * * * *
In the days that followed, however, I began to realize that there was
some sort of movement being fostered by the student body. It couldn't
be defined, but it could be felt and seen. The students began to form
groups and hold meetings--often without official sanction. What they
were about could not be discovered, but some of the results soon became
evident.
For one thing, certain students began to walk on one side of the
street and the other students walked on the other side. The ones who
used the north side of the street wore green sweaters with white
trousers or skirts, and the south-side students wore white sweaters
with green trousers or skirts. It even got to the point where those in
green sweaters went only to classes in the morning and those in white
attended the afternoon sessions.
Then the little white cards began to appear. They were sent through
the mail. They were slipped under doorways and in desk drawers. They
turned up beside your plate at dinner and under your pillow at night.
They were pasted on your front door in the morning and they appeared in
the fly-leaves of your books. They were even hung on trees like fruit,
and surely no fruit ever spored so queer a seedling.
They said either one thing or the other: THE WISTICK DUFELS THE
MORADDY, or THE MORADDY DUFELS THE WISTICK. Which card belonged to what
group was not immediately clear. It was not until the riots broke out
that the thing began to be seen in its proper perspective. And then it
was too late.
When the first riot started, it was assumed that the university
officials and the police could quell it in a very short time. But
strangely enough, as additional police were called in, the battle raged
even more fiercely. I could see part of the affair from my window and
therefore was able to understand why the increasing police force only
added to the turmoil. They were fighting one another! And through the
din could be heard the wild shouts of "The Wistick dufels the Moraddy!"
or "The Moraddy dufels the Wistick!"
The final blow came when I saw the Registrar and the Dean of Men
struggling fiercely in one of the hedge-rows, and heard the Dean of
Men yell in wild exultation as he brought a briefcase down on the
Registrar's head, "The Wistick dufels the Moraddy!"
Then someone broke in through the door of my office. I turned in alarm
and saw a huge three-letter man standing only a few feet from me. He
had been in one of my classes. I remembered something about his being
the hardest driving fullback on the Pacific coast. He was certainly the
dumbest philosophy student I ever flunked. His hair was mussed and he
was wild-eyed. He had blood on his face and chest, and his clothes were
torn and grass-stained.
"The Wistick dufels the Moraddy," he said.
"Get out of my office," I told him coldly, "and stay out."
"So you're on the other side," he snarled. "I hoped you would be."
He started toward me and I seized a bookend on my desk and tried to
strike him with it. But he brushed it aside and came on in. His first
blow nearly broke my arm and as I dropped my guard due to the numbing
pain, he struck me solidly on the side of the jaw.
When I recovered consciousness, I was lying by the side of my desk
where I had fallen. My head ached and my neck was stiff. I got
painfully to my feet and then noticed the big square of cardboard
pinned to the door of my office. It was lettered in red pencil and in
past tense said, "The Wistick dufelled the Moraddy."
* * * * *
The uprisings arose spontaneously in all parts of the country. They
were not confined to colleges. They were not confined to any particular
group. They encompassed nearly the entire population and the fervor
aroused by their battle-cry, whichever one it might be, was beyond all
comprehension.
I could not understand either slogan's meaning--and there were others
like myself. On several occasions, I attempted to find out, but I was
beaten twice and threatened with a pistol the third time, so I gave
up all such efforts. I was never much given to any sort of physical
violence.
One night, I went home thoroughly disheartened by the state of affairs.
The university was hardly functioning. Nearly the entire faculty,
including the college president, had been drawn into one camp or the
other. Their actions were utterly abhorrent to me. If the professor
was a green-top, or Wistickian, he lectured only to green-tops. If he
belonged to the Moraddians, or white-top faction, they were the only
ones who could enter his classroom.
The two groups were so evenly divided that open violence was frowned
upon as a means of attaining whatever end they had in view. They were
biding their time and gathering strength for fresh onslaughts on each
other.
As I say, I went home feeling very discouraged. My wife was in the
kitchen preparing dinner, and I went in and sat down at the table while
she worked. The daily paper was lying on the table, its headlines
loaded with stories of bloodshed and strife throughout the nation. I
glanced through them. Lately, there seemed to be a sort of pattern
forming.
East of the Mississippi, the general slogan was emerging as the Moraddy
dufelling the Wistick. West of the Mississippi, the Wistick was
receiving the greater support. And it seemed that the younger people
and the women preferred the Moraddy, while elderly people and most men
were on the side of the Wistick.
I commented on this.
My wife answered briefly, "Of course. Anyone should know that the
Moraddy will win out." She went on with the preparations for dinner,
not looking at me.
I sat stunned for a moment. Great God in Heaven, not my wife!
"Am I to understand that you are taking any part of this seriously?" I
asked with some heat. "The whole thing is a horrible, pointless prank!"
She turned and faced me squarely. "Not to me. I say the Moraddy
will win out. I want it to--and I think you'd be wise to get on the
bandwagon while there's still time."
I realized she was serious. Dead serious. I tried a cautious query:
"Just what does the dufellation of the Wistick by the Moraddy mean?"
* * * * *
And it made her angry. It actually made her angry! She switched off the
front burner and walked past me into the living room. I didn't think
she was going to answer, but she did--sort of.
"There is no excuse for an egghead in your position not knowing what it
means." Her voice was strained and tense. "If you had any perception
whatever, you would understand what the Moraddy has to give the
American people. It's our only hope. And you've got to take sides.
You're either for the Moraddy or the Wistick--you can't take the middle
way."
I felt completely isolated. "Wait! I don't know what it means--"
"Forget it," she broke in. "I should have known. You were born, you
have lived, and you will die an egghead in an ivory tower. Just
remember--the Moraddy dufels the Wistick!" And she swept on upstairs to
pack. And out of my life.
And that's the way it was. Whatever malignant poison had seeped into
the collective brain of the nation, it was certainly a devastating
leveler of all sorts of institutions and values. Wives left husbands
and husbands left wives. Joint bank accounts vanished. Families
disintegrated. Wall street crumpled.
Developments were swift and ominous. The Army split up into various
groups. Most of the enlisted men favored the Moraddy, but the officers
and older non-coms pledged the Wistickian faith. Their power was
sufficient to hold many in line, but a considerable number in the lower
ranks deserted and joined forces with the Moraddians, who held the
eastern half of the country.
The Wisticks ruled the western half with an iron hand, and all signs
pointed toward civil war. Labor and military authorities conscripted
the entire population regardless of age, sex or religious convictions.
For my own part, I slipped away from the campus and fled north
into the Oregon mountains. It was not that I was afraid to fight,
but I rebelled at the absolute stupidity of the whole thing. The
idea--fighting because of a few words!
But they did.
The destruction was frightful. However, it was not as bad as many had
thought it would be. The forces of the Wistick leveled the city of New
York, true, but it took three H-bombs to do the job, instead of one,
as the Air Force had claimed. In retaliation, San Francisco and Los
Angeles were destroyed in a single night by cleverly placed atom bombs
smuggled in by a number of fifth-columnist wives who gained access to
the cities under the pretext of returning to their husbands. This was
a great victory for the Moraddians, even though the women had to blow
themselves up to accomplish their mission.
The Moraddian forces were slowly beaten back toward the Atlantic
shores. They were very cunning fighters and they had youthful courage
to implement that cunning. But their overall policy lacked the
stability and long-range thinking necessary to the prosecution of total
war. One day they might overrun many populous areas and the next day,
due to the constant bickering and quarreling among their own armies,
they would lose all they had won, and more, too.
Finally, in desperation, they loosed their most horrible weapon, germ
warfare. But they forgot to protect themselves against their own
malignity. The Semantic War ground to a shuddering halt. The carrion
smell of death lay round the world.
The dufellation of the Wistick and the Moraddy.
* * * * *
So here I am, scuttling around in the forests like a lonely pack-rat.
It is not the sort of life I would choose if there were any other
choice. Yet life has become very simple.
I enjoy the simple things and I enjoy them with gusto. When I find
food that suits my stomach, I am happy. When I quench my thirst, I am
happy. When I see a beautiful sunset from one of my mountain crags, I
am happy. It takes little when you have little, and there have been few
men who have had less.
Only one thing troubles me. I suppose it doesn't matter, but I go on
wondering.
I wonder which side was right. I mean _really_ right.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEMANTIC WAR ***
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.
Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
States without permission and without paying copyright
royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may
do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
license, especially commercial redistribution.
START: FULL LICENSE
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
of Project Gutenberg electronic works. Nearly all the individual
works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
that you will support the Project Gutenberg mission of promoting
free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg
works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
Project Gutenberg name associated with the work. You can easily
comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg License when
you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
other Project Gutenberg work. The Foundation makes no
representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
country other than the United States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg License must appear
prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg work (any work
on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,
performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg™ License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws
of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is
derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg
trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg License for all works
posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg work in a format
other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg electronic works
provided that:
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
to the owner of the Project Gutenberg trademark, but he has
agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation.”
• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™
works.
• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
receipt of the work.
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than
are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
without further opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
or any Project Gutenberg work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
from people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg’s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.
The Foundation’s business office is located at 41 Watchung Plaza #516,
Montclair NJ 07042, USA, +1 (862) 621-9288. Email contact links and up
to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website
and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state
visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.
Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.
This website includes information about Project Gutenberg,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/51153