June 19, 1984

A number of the nation's major banks with loans to Argentina will be required to report substantially lower earnings because of a hotly disputed interpretation of accounting rules by Federal bank regulators. Although the ruling does not officially become effective until the third quarter, most banks are expected to report their earnings for the second quarter on the basis of it. The statement in which the strict interpretation of accounting rules is detailed was mailed last Saturday by the Federal Reserve System and the Comptroller of the Currency to chief executive officers of commercial banks across the country. Some analysts cheered the decision, saying it would help clear the air of doubts about the banking system although the immediate effect would be lower bank earnings.

TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 1984 Companies Lower earnings for some banks with loans to Argentina would be reported under a strict Federal interpretation of rules involving late interest payments. Some analysts said that, despite the immediate effect on earnings, the move would help clear the air of doubts about the banking system. (Page A1.) A bid for Conrail was submitted by a Citicorp group. The bank holding company said it hoped to include itself, other investors, Conrail unions and management. The unions, meanwhile, sweetened their cash offer. The Transportation Department said it had received a total of 13 bids by the midnight deadline. (D1.)

In the four months since Konstantin U. Chernenko became the Soviet leader, the Kremlin has settled into a hostile mood of a kind that has rarely been seen since the height of the cold war 30 years ago. Recent weeks have seen a sharp turning inward, a curtailment of ties with the West and a resort to something approaching rudeness in dealing with official visitors who have sought a return to compromise. Little is known about the workings of the Kremlin under Mr. Chernenko, but one view among Western diplomats is that the mood owes at least something to the character of the new Soviet leader, a peasant's son from Siberia, who has shown over the years that he has strong instincts of the kind associated with conservative Russian leaders. Apparently his views are reinforced in the current climate by those of Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko, who has emerged as the most powerful figure around Mr. Chernenko. Those attitudes include suspicion of the West, a rigid pride in the Soviet Union and a quick hostility toward anything seen as denigrating or threatening.

THE passengers, several of them wearing ''Save the Whales'' T-shirts, filed aboard the whale-watching boat Dolphin V at the municipal pier in Provincetown, Mass., hoping that they would be lucky enough to see the animals at close quarters and watch them spout, leap out of the water, slap their huge tail flukes on the surface or raise them high in the air before making deep dives. Two hours into last week's four-hour ocean trip their hopes were realized, and for the next hour they watched seven of the marine giants spout and dive. Two whales swam under the 100-foot boat, surfacing only a few feet away on the other side. But many scientists believe whale-watching has become part of a widespread and worsening ecological paradox: The very people who have exhibited so much interest in and compassion for whales may have themselves become a serious factor in the dangers that confront the great beasts. The whale-watchers often harass them, the scientists say, either intentionally or unintentionally, disrupting their feeding, mating and sleeping habits and on rare occasions even wounding them severely by running over them with boats and deadly propellers.

White House plans for a smooth Republican convention in August are being ruffled by talk of potential platform disputes between conservatives and moderates, Reagan Administration and campaign officials said today. Officials connected with President Reagan's re-election campaign said that a preliminary draft of the platform contained a call for a ''flat tax,'' a favorite idea of Republican conservatives. Under it, all taxpayers would pay Federal income taxes at the same rate. Some versions of the flat tax would call for graduated levels with the wealthier generally paying more.