[CentOS] /etc/locale.conf is ignored

It seems that /etc/locale.conf is ignored in Centos 7.

As a traditionalist who prefers things sorted lexicographically rather
than indiscriminately with case ignored and dates to be displayed in
the form "Sep 11 2008", I have always added lines to this file:

  $ cat /etc/locale.conf
  LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
  #  Fix collating sequence for sort and ls
  export LC_COLLATE=C
  #  Fix time format in ls -l to  Sep 11  2008
  export LC_TIME=C

and it's always worked - in UNIX, all Fedora's, Centos 6 (I think).
Now, in a fresh installation of Centos 7 (virtual, kvm) these 
exported environment variables are nowhere to be seen.

If I manually type  export LC_COLLATE=C  in an xterm, sorting works
"properly" again.

Why is /etc/locale.conf ignored in Centos 7 - and not in Fedora 20?

While it shouldn't matter, I'll mention that I'm running Xfce4 with
mostly xterm windows - where the LC_COLLATE and LC_TIME variables are
absent from `env`. 
However, if I revert to a non-X console (CTL-ALT-F2),
these variables are present.

So, /etc/locale.conf isn't totally ignored.  Perhaps xterm, or Xfce4,
or that whatever it is awful undocumented GUI thing that starts X,
has simply forgotten the concept of "export".

-- 
        David A. De Graaf    DATIX, Inc.    Hendersonville, NC
        dad at datix.us         www.datix.us


The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant;
it's just that they know so much that isn't so.
	- Ronald Reagan