The Committee revealed that when espionage failed to prevent unionism, employers also exploited workers through the use of munitions in anticipation of labor trouble. With the threat of communism sweeping the nation and employers utilizing it as a scapegoat to deter unionization, munitions companies distributed various forms of deterrence. Machine guns, tear gas bombs, and clubs were a few of the hindrances wielded to prevent and disperse union meetings. The Committee declared the use of these munitions as the demise of "labor relations," based upon the companies' lack of acknowledgment toward unions and only in their best economic interests. By preventing workers from freely gathering in public spaces, employers who opposed them with the use of munitions and other forms of physical coercion denied them their constitutional rights of freedom of speech and assembly.