Washington, Apr. 9.
President Roosevelt and the Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull, bitterly denounced Italy's invasion of Albania as a threat to world peace in a formal statement issued last night.
The statement, drafted by the State Department after a lengthy telephone conference between Mr. Hull and the President, was more outspoken than had been anticipated. President Springs, Ga., conferred by telephone with American diplomats in Europe before advising Mr. Hull on the form of the statement he forcible and violent invasion of Albania," the statement said, "unquestionably is an additional threat to the peace of the world. It would be short-sighted not to take sight of r development. Any threat to world peace seriously concerns all nations and violates the will of all peoples throughout the world who want that their governments should lead them not toward war but on the paths of peace.
"It is scarcely necessary to add that the inevitable effect of this incident, taken with other similar incidents, will be to further destroy confidence, and undermine the economic stability [of every country in the world—thus affecting our own welfare."
Mr. Hull, during his daily press conference, evaded a direct answer to ihe question whether the United States considers the invasion of Albania b a clear violation of the Ko d Peace Pact, but his attitude left no doubt that he considers the invasion a violation of that international—non-aggression agree me other questions, Mr. Em icularly emphasized the pening words of the statement—"the forcible and violent invasion....is an additional threat to peace"—as the American Government's unqualified description of Italy's action.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.