In Burnet v. Harmel, 287 U.S. 103, 53 S.Ct. 74, 77 L.Ed. 199 (1932), the Supreme Court dealt with the precise issue now before this Court, although the contractual agreement there involved dealt with the extraction of oil and gas. The assertion of the taxpayer was the same-that the lease agreement was actually a sale of the minerals in place and that he was therefore entitled to capital gains treatment. This contention was rejected by the Court, which used the case as an opportunity to investigate the policies behind the then relatively new capital gains provisions of the Internal Revenue law. The Court recognized that the purpose behind capital gains treatment is to avoid the hardship of taxing as income in one year theentire gain due to appreciation of value of a capital asset over a considerable period of time. It was noted, however, that 'taxation of the receipts of the lessor as income does not ordinarily produce the kind of hardship aimed at by the capital gains provision of the taxing act.' The Court continued by pointing out that the capital gains provision 'speaks of a 'sale,' and these leases would not generally be described as a 'sale' of the mineral content of the soil, using the term either in its technical sense or as it is commonly understood.' In Burnet v. Harmel, 287 U.S. 103, 53 S.Ct. 74, 77 L.Ed. 199 (1932), a taxpayer, the owner in fee of certain oil lands, had executed oil and gas leases of the lands in return for cash bonus payments and for royalties measured by the production of oil and gas by the lessee. In declaring that the bonus payments and royalties were taxable as ordinary income rather than as gain from a sale of capital assets, Mr. Justice Stone stated (p. 107, 53 S.Ct. p. 75): "The statute speaks of a `sale,' and these leases would not generally be described as a `sale' of the mineral content of the soil, using the term either in its technical sense or as it is commonly understood. Nor would the payments made by lessee to lessor generally be denominated the purchase price of the oil and gas. By virtue of the lease, the lessee acquires the privilege of exploiting the land for the production of oil and gas for a prescribed period; he may explore, drill, and produce oil and gas if found. Such operations with respect to a mine have been said to resemble a manufacturing business carried on by the use of the soil, to which the passing of title of the minerals is but an incident, rather than a sale of the land or of any interest in it or its mineral content. Stratton's Independence v. Howbert, 231 U.S. 399, 414, 415 34 S. Ct. 136, 58 L. Ed. 285; see Von Baumbach v. Sargent Land Co., 242 U.S. 503, 521 37 S. Ct. 201, 61 L. Ed. 460."