July 19, 1982

The woman sharing the compartment on the jolting train to Dresden said she would vacation in Hungary this summer. An East German, she planned to pay her way on holiday by selling in Hungary a pair of salamander shoes and a Carl Zeiss camera lens, both made in West Germany ''The barter is admittedly bothersome,'' she acknowledged, ''but I'm lucky to be going at all.'' Poland is off limits this year, she explained, and in Hungary and Czechoslovakia prices for things such as hotels, meals and gasoline have skyrocketed. Friends are staying instead on East Germany's windy Baltic shore, or in the nearby mountains.

A number of isolated incidents over the last few weeks have shaken faith in the world banking system, and many bankers fear that this erosion of confidence could be far more serious than the incidents themselves. Confidence is the core of banking. Without it even the strongest bank could not survive. And, the bankers say, that is true as well for the entire banking system.

Unemployment compensation funds in 16 states are experiencing painful cash squeezes and have to borrow regularly from the Federal Government to pay benefits to jobless workers. With the national unemployment rate at 9.5 percent, the highest in four decades, more than 4.2 million people are drawing benefits, an increase of a million and half in the last year. In addition to the 16 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have had to borrow from the Federal Government, and before the economy recovers, about half the state funds are expected to have to turn to Washington for help. While Washington is obligated to aid states with short-term difficulties, new Federal rules severely penalize states that habitually pay out more in jobless benefits than they take in from employers. Many of these states, largely in the industrial North, are working urgently to revise their programs to lower the deficits and escape the penalties. Both New Jersey and Connecticut have substantial deficits, but New York, where benefits are significantly lower, has not run into trouble.

Tom Watson won his fourth British Open championship today and became the fifth golfer to win the British Open and United States Open in the same season. Won is the word that goes into the record books, but the fact is that the tournament was given to him by Nick Price. The 26-year-old South African collapsed on the final four holes with a double bogey and a bogey. As late as the 14th hole, Price was leading Watson by two strokes, and all he needed to do to win was to coast in with pars. Instead, he lost by one and finished in a tie with Peter Oosterhuis for second. ''I feel great empathy for Nick Price,'' Watson said. ''He gave me the tournament. This was not winning the way I did with the birdie on 17 in the U.S. Open. I've never been in a position where a man has given me a tournament from so far ahead.

Poland's military has been unable to turn the economy around after six months of martial law. Although returning visitors say food lines appear shorter, some Poles note that is because food prices have risen, while wages have been frozen. (Page A1.) In neighboring East Germany, curtailed deliveries of Polish coal to the chemical industry have pinched that nation's economy, while Soviet oil has been diverted to Poland, further aggravating the decline. Prices of imported raw materials have soared. (D1.)