CIVIC FEDERATION 



1396 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT 



the too rapid increase of the crocodile family. 

 Most of all, however, civets are valued for a 

 fatty substance with a musky odor, which 

 is taken from pouches in their bodies con- 

 nected with the genital organs, and used for 

 making perfumes. Only a few drops are taken 

 each week from one animal. In London an 

 ounce of pure civet is valued at $10, and many 

 thousand ounces are imported each year. 



The American civet-cat, although so called, 

 is not a true civet. 



CIVIC, siv'ik, FEDERATION, NATIONAL, an 

 organization of prominent employers, labor 

 leaders and public men, formed in 1901 for the 

 purpose of settling and preventing labor dis- 

 putes and strikes. The organization grew rap- 

 idly and now includes nine departments, the 

 most important of which is probably that for 

 preventing and settling strikes; others wherein 

 good work has been done are the welfare de- 

 partment, the woman's department, the social 

 insurance department 'and the department for 

 preventing accidents to employees and securing 

 compensation for those who are injured. Each 

 department is in charge of an executive com- 



mittee comprising members representing the 

 public, the employees and the employer. 

 Headquarters are maintained in New York 

 City. 



CIVIL DEATH, siv'il deth. According to 

 law a person may be alive and enjoying good 

 health and still under certain conditions be 

 dead to all his civil rights. In some states, 

 as New York, this is true of one sentenced to 

 the state prison for life; all his civil rights are 

 taken from him and to the world he is as dead. 

 In all states absence for a specified time with- 

 out any knowledge of the whereabouts of the 

 individual renders him legally dead to his 

 civil rights; this period in most states is seven 

 years. Supposing A, living in Wisconsin, 

 should leave his home and family and go to 

 Alaska. If at the end of seven years no word 

 has been received from him, the law assumes 

 him to be dead; his estate can be settled by 

 probate, provided the family consents, and his 

 wife may legally marry again. Should he 

 afterwards return he could not compel the 

 court to restore his estate or family; these are 

 legally forfeited, beyond all redress. 



'IVIL GOVERNMENT, in the widest 

 sense, is the administration of the public af- 

 fairs of a country, a state, or a smaller political 

 unit. Civil government indicates "a state of 

 society reduced to order and regular govern- 

 ment," as distinguished from a barbarous or 

 savage state. The simplest definition of the 

 term is citizen government, for civil is from 

 civis, meaning citizen. 



Principles of Civil Government. Although 

 there is great variety in the principles and 

 methods of government in different countries, 

 there is a general similarity in the organiza- 

 tion of the central or national government. 

 The great departments of the government 

 state, or foreign affairs; treasury, or finance; 

 postoffice, etc. are under the direction of Cab- 

 inet members who are either the chief ad- 

 visors of the executive, as in the United 

 States, or are themselves the real executives, 



as in Canada and Great Britain. In any case, 

 however, these chiefs are political and tempor- 

 ary officers, and the permanent officials, includ- 

 ing assistant or under secretaries, are largely 

 responsible for the routine of government or- 

 ganization. 



In local and internal affairs the government 

 organizations are as varied as the political 

 ideals of the nations. It is generally true that 

 in those countries in which feudalism left its 

 strongest marks the government is most highly 

 centralized, whereas in countries which have 

 partly emancipated themselves from feudal tra- 

 dition, decentralization is noticeable. No mod- 

 ern civilized state, however, is either wholly 

 centralized or wholly decentralized. Central- 

 ized government, according to the popular 

 view, is most advantageous when it deals with 

 national affairs. Decentralized control of the 

 army, or for international relations, for ex- 



