What was going on when I was born?

The Government reported today that factory orders in August fell 1.9 percent, the largest monthly decline in more than a year and a sign that the current economic sluggishness may get worse. The drop was almost entirely in the closely watched level of orders for durable goods, down 3.48 percent, to $86.32 billion, in August from July, the most for this ca tegory in a ye ar. It was a steeper decline for durables than contained in the ad vance report for August issued nine days ago: That report showed a 2. 48 percent fall.

''Saudi Arabia, we will not permit to be an Iran.'' - President Reagan. (A1:6.)

President Reagan pledged to veto any appropriations bill that violates his plan to reduce Federal outlays. He called at a news conference for public patience with his economic program. (Page A1.) The President, in an effort to show Wall Street support, cited a Securities Industry Association letter. (A22.) Meanwhile, his budget chief, David A. Stockman, told Congress it would have to cast painful budget-cutting votes ''again and again and again.'' (A29.) The economy will remain slow through the first half of 1982, according to economists and businessmen at a Conference Board symposium. Many expressed surprise that business has remained as strong as it has in the face of high interest rates. (D1.)

The International Bu siness Machines Corporation yesterday confirmedreports that it was planning to abandon its product-group marketing in favor of a n approach that would enable customers to buy a wide range of I.B. M. products from a single sales representative. ''This new marketing structure will simplify the distribution of our products and better serve our customers' needs,'' John R. Opel, I.B.M.'s president and chief executive, said in a prepared statement. The reorganization calls for employees in I.B.M.'s data processing, general systems and office products groups to be combined into two new divisions, ''each of which will market our full product line to a specific set of customers,'' Mr. Opel said. As a first step toward that restructuring, which will take place in early 1982, I.B.M. announced today that all marketing and service activities would be combined into a single group known as the Information Systems Group, to be headed by C.B. Rogers Jr., a vice president.

International A firm pledge to protect Saudi Arabia was given by President Reagan. He said the United States would not allow the Saudi Government to fall into the hands of any internal or external forces threatening to cut off oil supplies for the West. He left unspecified the means that would be used to carry out the pledge. (Page A1, Column 6.) The sale of Awacs planes to the Saudis was pressed before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. He asserted that new ''understandings'' had been reached with Saudi Arabia to increase and extend American control over Saudi missions, but he faced renewed skepticism and opposition to the proposed sale from most members of the committee. (A28:1-2.)

Mayor Koch and the Transit Authority yesterday criticized a costof-living award that will give the city's 35,000 bus and subway employees a 36-cent-an-hour wage increase beginning next week. The increase was based on programs designed to produce $16.9 million in savings as a result of improved efficiency in transit operations. Those programs were approved by a special three-member panel Wednesday night. Mayor Koch said he thought the transit contract was a sham when it was originally negotiated during the 11-day bus and subway strike of 1980. He said that the decision by the three-member productivity panel supported his view. He noted that the decision could not be appealed and added, ''they're stuck with it.''

A 78-year-old director of the Irish Northern Aid Committee was arrested by Federal agents on a street in Queens yesterday morning on charges of conspiring to ship guns to the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland. The accused man, Michael Flannery of 35-42 91st Street, in Jackson Heights, denied the charges. He was arraigned in Federal Court in Brooklyn and released without being required to post bond.

President Reagan, marking the first day of the new fiscal year, today reiterated a vow that he would veto any appropriation bill that violated his plan to reduce Government spending. At the same time, Mr. Reagan appealed for public patience, saying that it would take time for his regimen of ta x cuts and deficit reductions to stimulate the sluggish economy. He attributed the depressed condition of the financial markets to ''pessimism'' about Congress's ability to restrain its spending impulses, rather than a lack of faith in his program within the business community. ''Tax cuts and spending cuts that take effect today will put America back on the road to economic recovery,'' Mr. Reagan said at the beginning of the fourth news conference of his term. ''Our programs won't be instantaneous. The mistakes of four decades can't be turned around in eight months.''

Calvin Hampton, who has been playing the organ at midnight on Fridays at Calvary Church, Park Avenue South and 21st Street, for the last seven years, will begin his eighth season tonight with the premiere of a work he wrote for the occasion. Also on the program will be Bach's Fantasy and Fugue in G minor, which makes Mr. Hampton feel like ''a mad Teutonic organist,'' and Mozart's Fantasy in F minor, which was written for a mechanical organ but transcribed. There's no admission fee to the concerts, which he says draw a mixed crowd - ''old and young, rich and poor, weird and ordinary.'' Mr.Hampton chats a little about the pieces he plays and, when he is finished, joins the audience for cider and cookies.

They came in packs, and they came in steady dribbles. Some came with new money being shifted from other investments. But most came with old money, already in one savings account or another. Some came with clear conviction and some came with confusion. But they came, and most banks seemed content, if not overwhelmed, by the showing. It was ''All Savers'' day yesterday for the nation's savings institutions, the first day to buy the ballyhooed, debated, and also widely misunderstood tax-exempt certificates that Congress has authorized as a form of relief for the savings industry. By depositing money for a year, any time up to Dec.31, 1982, one can exempt up to $1,000 in interest from Federal taxes as an individual and $2,000 as a couple. Banks that had any reading at all said that they thought most of the money flowing in the first day was from pulled from accounts on hand, especially six-month certificates of deposit.

The United States has agreed to nearly triple - to 23 million metric tons - the amount of American wheat and corn that the Soviet Union will be allowed to purchase in the next 12 months, American officials announced here today. The agreement set the stage for record Soviet purchases of American grain, exceeding even the 16 million tons that Moscow bought after the poor Soviet harvest of 1972. After two days of talks here, American officials said they expected the Russians to purchase an additional 10 million tons in the next 12 months, bringing total Soviet purchases for the period to 18 million tons. The new agreement replaces an accord that limited Soviet purchases of American grain to a total of eight million tons for the 1981-82 marketing period. The eight million tons have already been ordered by the Russians. A metric ton equals about 2,205 pounds.

Newmont Mining stock surged nearly $6 on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, to $58.125, after Consolidated Gold Fields announced that it would delay further purchases of Newmont stock until Oct. 15 - nine days after it would have been free under Federal law to resume buying. Gold Fields already owns 8.1 percent of the Newmont Mining Corporation. The delay followed an agreement between Consolidated Gold Fields Ltd. of London and the Federal Trade Commission. Gold Fields, which has already said it would buy at least 25 percent of Newmont and maybe as much as 49 percent, is expected to begin buying as soon as it is permitted to do so - although the F.T.C. could bring an antitrust suit between now and Oct. 15 to halt further purchases.