Thanks, I think you nailed it. They basically don’t trust governments. Never mind that bigger hashes were made of the economy with the gold standard in place.
Deflation would be no fun. Do you remember the stereotypical plot of the evil banker evicting the poor old widow from her house? That wasn’t from the poor old widow losing here money - it was from deflation making the poor old widow’s farm not earn enough to keep up with the mortgage.
The nature of mortgage lending has changed a bit too - that’s how I heard that anyway. What in the US we consider a normal 20% down, fixed-rate 30 year mortgage is relatively new. The classic “widower going to be evicted” movie plot also stems in part because in those days, a note could be called in for the entire amount at any time. Buying a house might mean putting half down, or more, but still on the hook for the remainder depending on the lenders’ whim.
The bank might not be mean enough to do this, but the loans could be purchased on the secondary market as it were, and “called in” by the vindictive sort or land speculator.