DRYSDALE: CONFUSION REIGNS

Even before it failed to pay $160 million in interest due to about 30 securities firms early this week, Drysdale Government Securities had attracted more attention than appeared warranted by its size and history.

The firm, created only in January, with about $28 million of capital, quickly put together a balance sheet totaling an estimated $4 billion or more as it gained a reputation for aggressive trading in Treasury bonds and notes.

It was a large leap for a creature spun off from Drysdale Securities, a much older firm with $5.5 million in capital whose trading activity in Treasury issues amounted to only about $700 million just a year ago, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The confusion inherent in the spin-off company's being larger than its creator is part and parcel of the confusion - of names, of current relationships and of operations - that has surrounded the two firms all week.

''If we had it to do over, we wouldn't share the same name,'' said Peter J. Wasserman, president of Drysdale Securities, adding that Drysdale Securities and Drysdale Government Securities were totally separate entities. In the cases of other Government securities firms that share the name of a better-known parent, the founding company acknowledges a relationship with its offspring.

Today, Drysdale Securities has ''minimal'' participation in the Government securities market, focusing its attention on the equity and municipal bond markets, Mr. Wasserman said.

Before becoming president of Drysdale Securities on June 1, 1981, and investing his own capital in it, Mr. Wasserman often traded through the firm as a private individual.

He declined to describe the business reasons for the creation of Drysdale Government Securities, except to say that other better known securities firms had also established separate Government securities affiliates.

''We have invested $5 million in nonvoting preferred stock in Drysdale Government Securities, and that is the extent of our involvement,'' Mr. Wasserman said. He declined to say whether the loss of that investment would imperil the Drysdale Securities capital position, but said that ''we are satisfying all capital requirements.'' He added that ''We have no say in the operations of the Government securities firm, and we are not involved in their negotiations.''

People leaving the building at 65 Liberty Street, where the offices of Drysdale Government Securities are situated and which also houses the Great Hall of the New York Chamber of Commerce, either denied working for Drysdale Government or declined to respond to any questions.

Mr. Wasserman was seen entering the building yesterday afternoon, but he later insisted that the purpose of the visit was not to meet with any employees of Drysdale Government Securities. ''Their offices are on the fifth floor, and my meeting was on the third,'' he said, adding that the meeting ''had to do'' with the capital position of Drysdale Securities, whose offices are at 55 Water Street.

As for Drysdale Government, Richard Taaffee is president, but according to several market participants, the top trader is David Heuwetter. Both Mr. Taaffee and Mr. Heuwetter declined to receive or return telephone calls.

''I call them a quasi-government dealer,'' said one dealer not associated with either firm. ''They traded in large volume, but there's no way they had the ability to distribute those amounts of securities.''

In addition to the size of its transactions, which would have been large even for the largest firms, traders said that the firm was also known by the reputation of Mr. Heuwetter. ''He's a flamboyant individual,'' said one trader, who like virtually everyone discussing the case insisted on anonymity.

In the world of Government securities dealers, many firms declined to trade with Drysdale Government Securities or would do so only with a bank as an intermediary. Firm Not Forthcoming

One New York banker said he had declined to do business with Drysdale Government because the firm was not forthcoming with financial documents.

An arbitrager at one securities firm that did enter into transactions involving Drysdale Government said, in a reaction typical of many: ''It looks like our Government securities department will do business with anybody. The credit check had to be cursory or nonexistent.''

Many market participants said they were tightening their procedures for checking the creditworthiness of their customers in the wake of the Drysdale debacle. They also speculated that the failure to meet interest payments might prompt Federal legislators or the S.E.C. to revive proposals that the Government securities market be more strictly regulated.

Currently, about three dozen dealers report their position in the cash, futures and forward market to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but they do not divulge their position with any individual customer. To share information about customer accounts might be criticized by the Justice Department, they said.