What was going on when I was born?

The Caterpillar Tractor Company announced today that it would slash its quarterly dividend to 12.5 cents, from 37.5 cents. It also said it would freeze hiring, accelerate plant closings and pare manufacturing capacity and production schedules. In addition, Caterpillar said it expected a loss for the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31. On Sept. 13, it predicted losses for the third quarter and the year. Caterpillar, one of the world's largest producers of earthmoving, construction and materials- handling equipment, lost $345 million in 1983, on sales of $5.42 billion.

Vice President Bush and his Democratic rival, Geraldine A. Ferraro, will debate in Philadelphia Thursday night in an event that has taken on new importance as the two campaigns try to improve on the results of last Sunday's Presidential debate. Strategists on both sides say that while the election will turn on Presidential preferences, the outcome of the first and only Vice-Presidential debate of the 1984 campaign could further alter the dynamics of the race at a time when some voters could be ready to reassess their feelings toward President Reagan and his Democratic challenger, Walter F. Mondale. In the wake of the first Presidential debate, which rejuvenated Mr. Mondale's candidacy and left the Reagan campaign in a defensive posture, Mr. Bush is under pressure, as one Republican strategist put it, to ''win one for the Gipper'' and slow the opposition's new- found momentum. Political anaylsts say the performances turned in by Mr. Bush and Mrs. Ferraro could have a greater effect on their own political futures than on the outcome of this year's Presidential contest. Unlike Mr. Reagan and Mr. Mondale, who will debate again on Oct. 21, the Vice-Presidential candidates will not get a rematch. The impression each makes in 90 minutes before a national television audience that night could shape the political identity of each debater more than anything they do on the campaign trail.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1984 Companies Caterpillar Tractor said it would cut its dividend , freeze hiring, accelerate plant closings and pare manufacturing capacity. The company, one of the world's largest makers of heavy equipment, linked the cost-cutting efforts to increased competition, the industry's overcapacity and high interest rates. Caterpillar also predicted a loss for the fourth quarter; it had earlier forecast losses for the third quarter and full year. (Page D1.) The Government will drop some charges against a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal. The charges were based on the novel legal theory that the reporter breached his duty to his readers by failing to disclose that he traded in the securities about which he wrote. The reporter and two others, however, still face Federal charges of securities fraud and conspiracy. (D1.)

For several years, the world's steelmakers have felt that they were in a bottomless pit, dug by excess capacity and deepened by falling demand. But the dozens of steel executives who assembled here this week for the annual conference of the International Iron and Steel Institute, seemed to feel they had reached bottom and were coming up again. The steelmakers at the conference, which ended today, are still plagued by worldwide overcapacity, which is depressing prices and decimating profits, and are concerned about protectionist pressures. But there was a distinct note of optimism at the gathering, which included steelmakers from both developing and industrialized nations. ''I think we will find not too far away a new balance between supply and demand,'' said Jacques P. Michel, associate director general of Usinor, France's largest steelmaker. An optimistic estimate, he said, ''will be in just two or three years, but maybe it will take several more.''

Secretary of State George P. Shultz today warmly praised the offer by President Jose Napoleon Duarte of El Salvador to meet guerrilla leaders next Monday. After meeting here with Mr. Duarte for two hours, Mr. Shultz said that ''the United States was delighted to support'' the peace initiative. Earlier, when he arrived for a four- hour visit, the first stop on a three-day trip to Central America, Mr. Shultz said that Mr. Duarte's initiative ''has our unqualified support.'' 'Power Is Not at Stake' Mr. Duarte, after the meeting with Mr. Shultz, said that his talks with rebel leaders next week would ''not involve power-sharing.''

ACROSS the country, phone customers are being faced with a choice: Which of an ever-growing number of long distance phone companies will provide their primary long-distance service. It is a decision that can save them money. But it is a confusing one as well. When A.T.&T. divested itself of seven regional telephone companies in January, the court ruled that all companies should be allowed to offer the ease of dialing formerly allowed only to A.T.&T. In stages, customers nationwide are feeling the effects of that ruling. They will be able to use any of an extensive list of long-distance carriers simply by dialing ''1'' and then the area code and number. Under the divestiture-mandated plan, known as ''long distance equal access,'' customers must choose which of several long-distance phone companies - there are several dozen serving the New York area alone - will be their primary long-distance service. Those who do not choose a carrier will be assigned one by their local phone company.

A White House advisory panel said in a report made public today that the Soviet Union had consistently followed ''a pattern of pursuing military advantage'' by selectively disregarding its arms control commitments. An expurgated version of the secret report was released by the White House at the insistence of conservative members of Congress. It had been submitted to President Reagan in January by a General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament, a group of nongovernmental experts. There had been plans to make it public last month, but its release was delayed to avoid spoiling the atmosphere during a visit by Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko of the Soviet Union.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1984 International Prime Minister Shimon Peres will press next year to secure a dramatic increase in American grants to Israel, from the current level of $2.6 billion to more than $4 billion annually, according to Israeli officials. Administration officials said Israel is already the largest beneficiary of American aid, not only this year but throughout the history of the foreign aid program. (Page A1, Column 4.)

The City Investing Company, which announced only two weeks ago that it would sell all of its operations, said late yesterday that it had agreed to sell its Motel 6 budget-motel company to an investor group headed by Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Company, a leading Wall Street investment house, for $565 million. Insiders said the group would also assume Motel 6's $350 million in debt, bringing the value of the deal to $915 million. It was the second major sale by City Investing since it disclosed plans to liquidate.

The Federal Reserve, like a baseball umpire, is always happiest when nobody notices it. And in the current Presidential campaign, being waged partly over the level of interest rates, remarkably little is being said about the Fed. The nation's central bank has succeeded in avoiding criticism from either side. This is in stark contrast to 1980, when the Federal Reserve drew loud complaints from President Carter after it raised its discount rate by a full point in late September. Indeed, not only were no questions asked about the Fed in Sunday night's debate, but neither President Reagan nor Walter F. Mondale even referred - favorably or unfavorably - to its performance.

Under this heading, The Times amplifies articles or rectifies what the editors consider significant lapses of fairness, balance or perspective. A Washington dispatch on Oct. 4 reported on a House subcommittee hearing at which representatives of the three major television networks discussed their practices of projecting election results.

A picture caption yesterday with an article about the United Farm Workers incorrectly identified a man in a lettuce field. He was a farm worker whose name is not known.