The 130' limit was put in place by the US Navy because that was the limit time and depth wise that allowed a reasonable amount of work to be done on scuba with twin 90 cu/ft tanks.
It had absolutely nothing to do with narcosis as scuba was allowed to 200 feet for short duration jobs and surface supplied air for long duration jobs and still is.
In the beginning rec agencies simply adopted what the Navy did without questioning why the Navy did what it did even though most rec diving was done with single 72 cu/ft tanks. Since then rec agencies have thrown in various depth limits for various reasons unrelated to narcosis in most cases..
I am under the understanding that it was/or is the maximum depth that a double hose regulator will work effectively, opposed to the twin 90 cu/ft cylinders.