The reasoning is that all his workers should benefit from the public largess that makes the quaint Olvera Street where his Mexican restaurant is situated so profitable.

Unlike some rights that government grants from public largess (welfare, food stamps, etc.), this new right granted to "life partners" is directly paid for by the individual property owner.

There is a dark side to all of this public largess, however, one that museum officials are reluctant to discuss for fear of discouraging potential donors.

"If one group (the nonpoor elderly) bears a somewhat disproportionate share of the sacrifice in my plan, it's because they now receive a vastly disproportionate share of our public largess," he writes at another point.

Changes Ruffle Feathers' When it comes to budget matters, Mr. Feiner is most adamant about not tolerating private misuse of public largess.

His seminal work, "The Big Foundations" (Columbia University Press, 1972) parted the curtain on the secretive world of private fortunes and public largess.

As the authors note in a felicitous aside, broadcasters have long enjoyed the quid of public largess without the quo of public responsibility.

There are historical explanations for this German tradition of public largess, quite apart from gloomy notions of inherent European cultural superiority.

If a television station benefits from the public largess, it must answer to the public.

Historically, Americans have envied the public largess that Europeans used to consider normal.