[jmherbener]

As Salerno points out in chapter 16 of his book, the inter-war period monetary system was not a gold standard. The classic gold standard was destroyed by the belligerent countries in the First World War. Read Salerno’s chapter 23, “The Role of Gold in the Great Depression” for his analysis of the arguments that the “gold standard” caused the Great Depression. He cites Murray Rothbard’s books, America’s Great Depression and A History of Money and Banking in the United States for further analysis.

http://library.mises.org/books/Joseph%20T%20Salerno/Money,%20Sound%20and%20Unsound.pdf

To see how a true international gold standard would work, take a look at Salerno’s chapters 13 and 15.